Neurodivergent is a non-medical umbrella term used to describe people with variation in their mental functions, and can include conditions such as mood, anxiety, dissociative, psychotic, personality, and eating disorders. The term “neurodivergent” came from the related term “neurodiversity,” which was coined by Judy Singer, an Australian sociologist, in 1998 to recognize that everyone’s brain develops in a unique way. Neurodiversity refers to the diversity of all people, but it is often used in the context of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as other neurological or developmental conditions such as ADHD or learning disabilities.
Some of the conditions that cause a person to be neurodivergent are manageable, and there’s a wide range of possible management options, therapy programs, and more. People with any form of neurocognitive or mental disorder, whether congenital or acquired, have also sometimes been excluded from the neurotypical label, particularly in academic studies for specific disorders that use neurotypical control groups. In this sense, the term is now contrasted to neurodivergent.
