Article 1 – Introduction to Leslie’s work:
The benefits of having a Neurodiverse Society
This article is one of a series of articles aiming to find practical solutions towards autistic well-being
This article has a neurodiverse theme – the problems of not having a neurodiverse society.
We do not yet have a neurodiverse society, even though there are a lot of neurodiverse people in society. Currently the social framework is neurotypically-based.
The problem of not having a neurodiverse society seems to produce a by-product of catastrophisation. This is because there is a social comparison with neurotypical people.
Neurodiversities are so little understood, especially for people with autism, that there tends to be – from society – an obsessiveness, or an over-fixation upon the negative connotations of the autistic condition. This means that negative-profiling is exacerbated which encourages autistic people to negatively-profile themselves, because in their view they are not able to live up to the standards of people who are neurotypical. The most usual example of this taking place is around social interaction.
Leslie would like to open with the neurotypical and neurodiverse definitions:
What are Neurodiversities – neurodiversities are made up of neurological challenges such as; dyslexia, ADHD, autism, OCD, dyscalculia, colour-blindness, irlen syndome etc.
A useful definition reference would be with the Neurodiversity Symposium: https://neurodiversitysymposium.wordpress.com/what-is-neurodiversity/
A-typical people are people who specifically have autism.
Neurodiversity became more known as a term after it was used frequently in regards to sociology during the early 1990’s, following on from research gathered by Judy Singer.
Autistic people are negatively–profiled by an overwhelmingly neurotypical society. Leslie aims to help people to understand this neurological programming that has become set up within their thought processes. This is because they do not feel as though they can match up with other people’s neurological standards. Also, the guidelines towards correct codes of behaviour are based on a neurotypical, social framework.
A lot of people who are neurodiverse are going to be overwhelmed. This is because they feel as though other people don’t hear or understand them properly.
On an individual basis, Leslie’s counselling aims to help his clients develop their own existing skills and attributes, compared to an approach that obsesses and over-fixates on the deficits and dysfunctions of the neurodiverse, genuine challenges.
Leslie is working towards an all-inclusive neurodiverse society. He works to help his clients promote positive change whatever that means on an individual basis. A neurodiverse society will help communication all around. The hope is that neurodiverse, genuine challenges will be so commonplace and part of the framework of a neurodiverse society, that they will no longer become an issue. It is also hoped that the neurodiverse challenges will be integrated within society – within the work place, health, education and also within the leisure industry.
Other articles will follow and add to this discussion… Image Reference: Diagram created by Dr Nancy Doyle https://www.geniuswithin.co.uk/about/our-associates/dr-nancy-doyle/