“neurodivergent” means disabled. it means disabled in some way involving cognition/emotion/sociability/mental abilities. it is a call to solidarity between the person with adhd, the autistic person, the depressed person, the dyslexic person, the schizophrenic person, the ocd haver, the intellectually disabled person, the person with dementia, the epileptic person, the stroke survivor, anyone who has a mental disability. it’s a call to each of us to be more than ourselves, to be in solidarity against the ableism that affects all of us.
it isn’t a quirky fashion statement. it has always been about disability
I really don’t think it’s helpful to act like schizophrenia and dementia are in remotely the same level of care needs as someone with ADHD, and frankly I think it is a grotesque stealing of valor for anyone with ADHD or the occasional absence seizure to act like their needs are similar to someone who is paralyzed and nonverbal from a stroke or severely intellectually disabled or has the terminal disease of dementia
yknow, I like it when people with mild adhd or anxiety give a shit about my needs, or about funding social programs, or expanding disability benefits, or yknow. When my friends with adhd helped me through the process of getting into a supported employment program, or checked in on me when I was in day programs or the ward. I don’t really care about “stealing valor” and neither do my other friends who have higher support needs than “mild adhd”. We mostly care that people actually listen to us, support us, and take our struggles seriously while acknowledging that we have our own agency. Which is what we find in neurodivergent/mad communities.