Neurodiversity

What counts as a deficit? I can’t do sums in my head. I’m terrible at recognizing people’s faces. I can’t carry a tune and meanwhile truffles make me gag. I am so very overweight. Please don’t stand so close to me! I’m exacting about certain things, and this doesn’t always sit so well with others. It drives me nuts when people don’t complete their

The concept of neurodiversity was first invoked in the 1990s by the Australian sociologist Judy Singer, to engage us more deeply with the experience of individuals with autism. The idea quickly expanded to include ADHD and related learning disorders. This line of thought encourages us, the newly dubbed “neurotypical”, to take stock of the ways we all fall short at times, and as a point of comparison to observe how our own struggles can be rousing, or tedious, or demoralizing. When and if it seems fitting, who’ll be there to lend a hand? Do I want the assist or does that assistance only highlight some troubled feelings I have about myself? 

If you know what it’s like to be bad at foreign languages, to have two left feet, or to kill every plant you touch, then you are also likely to tolerate these traits in others. But what of folks who struggle in very different and unusual ways? Can we approach but not condescend to such individuals, and can we be curious about their unique engagement with the world? Neurodiversity, the concept, serves to cleave empathy from sympathy.  

Responding to neurodevelopmental variability is not an easy matter and so there is no simple manual for how it should be done. Empathy can be a creative and dynamic process, and as with any challenge, doing it well ought to be its own reward.

This roundtable will discuss the varieties of human neurodiversity and the resources that might be brought to bear on the related struggles that inevitably arise. And for each individual case, how far should we go and how do we know when we’ve done enough but not too much?