In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the neurodiversity movement.
Neurodivergent” is an umbrella term that describes people whose minds differ from what society considers normal. It can encompass a number of conditions and is most commonly associated with autism and ADHD today.
What was once an extremely niche term in neurodiversity and disability activist circles is now in the purview of pop stars, business leaders and politicians.
Kassiane Asasumasu, an early neurodiversity advocate, is widely credited with coining the term in the late ’90s. The word was the result of “a pedantic, neurodivergent kid (me) having access to the Internet,” she told The 19th. Specifically, she was annoyed that people were using “neurodiverse” as a descriptor for individual people or individual diagnoses.
“A single entity is not diverse,” Asasumasu told The 19th.
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There were other competing terms, some of which predated “neurodivergent,” according to Ira Eidle. Eidle is a student archivist who maintains The Autistic Archive, one of the only repositories of documents from the early neurodiversity movement. Eidle put The Autistic Archive together prior to entering academia and is in the process of using the knowledge he has gained to update and improve the website. The earliest usage he could find for the word “neurodivergent” was from 2002.
