Neurodivergent? What?
A brief introduction to Neurodivergence and Neurodiversity
This is the first part of a series of posts from the DAZN Disability ERG, where we aim to shine a brighter light on neurodiversity through our own experiences. We want to encourage others to join in making it a topic that is more widely discussed and present at work.
As children, we learn the basic operations of life that are taught to us by parental figures to prepare us for entering the world, as adults we learn a more complex set of skills, social expectations and interactions that help us navigate life to achieve our own goals whether that is professional success or social fulfilment. Whereas nobody learns at the same speed or exactly the same way, most people fit into a bracket that tends to think and act similarly as a result of their alike genetics, environment and education, these people can be described as neurotypical (NT), those that do not fit into that bracket (more commonly because of a condition or mental state affecting brain function and development) can be described as neurodivergent (ND).
Types of neurodivergence
While it’s not possible to describe everything that sits within the ND umbrella, some more common examples of ND conditions include Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, PTSD, Tourette’s Syndrome.
While still used for diagnosis in the medical world, many of these names are considered outdated and a commonly preferred way to consider what they describe are neurocognitive differences (similar to that of being left or right-handed), bringing a spectrum of colour to the puzzle pieces that make up our brains. The shape, configuration and mutual interaction of these pieces can influence mood, thought patterns, learning, social behaviour, relationships, physical control of your body among many other things that make us who we are as a whole.
Embracing neurodiversity means celebrating all of the different brains in the world and their own ways of thinking, but also making ourselves aware and sensitive to how ND can sometimes make life significantly harder to navigate for those that experience it, like trying to run the standard software for modern life on hardware it just wasn’t designed for.
Neurodivergence in our society
Neurodivergence is common, it is estimated that around 1 in 7 people sit somewhere on this end of the scale. ND people are on our screens, in our news and our history books; Lewis Carrol, Greta Thunberg, Alan Turing, Albert Einstein, Elon Musk, Billie Eilish, neurodiversity is important in our society and yet social stigmas are still present that can be damaging and distancing.
It is a misconception that someone neurodivergent has a disorder or something that should be cured or fixed, this is untrue, ND is at its core only a label. We use it to describe those that see the world through a different lens of experience, this label is useful for people to identify with socially, to more easily relate with others, set expectations, find similarities or communicate any adaptations they have to be able to do things others don’t need to think twice about.
Living with ND
Most develop our own coping mechanisms and habits over time, sometimes there is a need for others to make adaptations for us. These are often necessary for ND people that find it stressful or impossible to get by because historically the world is built for NT people. Naturally, it makes sense to design for the largest population group, but on the other side of the fence, this manifests in a daily struggle for anyone who must live under the radar and feeling different, perhaps masking in an attempt to fit in by playing the character of ‘normal’.
Struggles as a result of this fundamental mismatch can range from stress, forgetfulness and impostor syndrome to information processing problems, stimming, being unable to perform daily tasks. In particular, ND people are at increased risk of mental health problems including burnout, anxiety, depression, addiction.
Work-life is commonly affected, technology is such an industry that sits particularly well with many ND people because of its flexibility, however, it regularly requires intense and sometimes chaotic thinking in the software engineering world. When brains are chaotic enough as they are I know I’m not alone when I say this comes with its own set of challenges for an ND brain where regulation can be tough, we can experience periods of hyper-focus and periods of none when the pressure to perform consistently in these times takes an overwhelmingly large amount of energy.
What makes someone ND
It is fair to say that whether NT or ND we experience many of the same struggles that life throws at us, so where’s the line, can everyone be labelled as ND? Maybe if they are having a really bad day and acting strange? These are also fair questions. Let us take the example of say, using the bathroom, something that is agreed to be mostly ubiquitous, however, if a person was going 15–30 times a day you would show some concern, right? The same applies to ND, the extent and intensity to which these indicators happen can differentiate what is a daily occurrence from something that might require attention when it shows a greater impact on your life and daily function for a significant length of time.
This all sounds familiar…
If from all this you are building suspicion you might be neurodivergent, great! Many of us and even those close to us, don’t pick up on it for a long time, often well into adulthood because we have spent years developing our management techniques, myself included. Self-reflection and seeking assistance are the first steps on the path to clarity and for those that have gone through that, it can be like a light switching on and everything starts to make sense why we do certain things once you start making those connections. Start with some research, reach out to your GP or another organisation that can help you to build up the picture of neurocognitive colour in your own life.
What now?
For more information you can reach out to me, Georgia Sorsky, Craig Little or Samantha Betts from the DAZN disability ERG (Employee Resource Group) if you’d like to hear more about our individual experiences, you can also look out for that in the next part of our ND blog series.
Make observations of your day to day, there may be many things that are not as accessible as you would have otherwise been aware of (supermarkets and stores especially). Accommodations don’t have to be large, something as small as being clear on your intention when asking a question on sending a message where signals from body language are not available will make a huge difference to an ND person, and chances are, it will improve your communication overall. It is rare that an accommodation for an ND person doesn’t make life easier for everyone.
Wherever you sit on the scale, help us by being a neurodiversity advocate, be part of creating an inclusive and welcoming work environment for everyone, no matter how differently we experience the world and what that looks like from the outside.
Further reading: donaldsons.org.uk/neurodiversity
Research Bias
The world is not only built for NT people but to be specific, often for white NT men, due to an inherent bias towards this group in research and subsequently resulting data. This can make life especially difficult in the ND world for people of colour and women, in whom ND can display differently and they are often under-diagnosed, under-represented or in some way do not get the level of support required.
Masking
Masking is when a person will consciously change their behaviour to mask or hide their natural self to try and conform to social expectations or pressure.
Stimming
Stimming is the repetitive and impulsive movement that comes with the brain trying to occupy itself, to self-stimulate, it can include but is not limited to verbal noises, clicking fingers or tapping feet. Anyone can stim if feeling strong emotion, boredom or nervousness. ND people can experience this as a lack of control in their brain or present situation, they might involuntarily stim to regain control of their senses, focus or brain function. It can often be more pronounced or subjectively ‘unusual’, like hand-flapping or head-twitching.
