What does neurodivergent include?
There's no consensus I can find on whether I would be considered neurodivergent
Our understanding of brain processes and mental health has progressed a lot in the past few decades, as has the terminology related to these topics. People have become empowered to move beyond the stigma associated with differences from what is typical, and the way people identify and discuss this is still evolving.
Recently, I’ve been noticing the word “neurodivergent” being used more frequently by people to describe themselves, including several people I know pretty well online. I have a general idea of what this means, partly because these friends and acquaintances generally disclose in what way they’re neurodivergent (such as having autism, ADHD, and dyslexia, among others).
But it didn’t occur to me until recently that as someone with bipolar disorder, I might be considered neurodivergent. Two other conditions I suffer from but to a lesser extent — anxiety and trauma — could also be considered in this category. Whether these are called disorders or conditions, they’re generally considered mental illnesses (or part of mental health).
But do they fall under the same umbrella as those who call themselves neurodivergent?
So I did some digging into things online to see what does or doesn’t “count” as being neurodivergent, and let’s just say that there’s no one answer. There appears to be some amount of disagreement among experts since it’s not a technical medical term. While many embrace the term “neurodivergent”, other people who might fall under the umbrella of neurodivergent or have been called neurodivergent don’t like the term.
Here’s a few thoughts from various sources on what neurodivergence or neurodiversity are, and what falls under those terms.
I’m interested to hear any thoughts my readers have about this and will be putting up a Twitter and Mastodon poll, and welcome your comments on this as well on Substack or social media. I’ve bolded some key words and given my reaction in some places.
Neurodivergent is a nonmedical term that describes people whose brains develop or work differently for some reason. […] The possible differences include medical disorders, learning disabilities and other conditions. The possible strengths include better memory […], the ability to solve complex mathematical calculations in their head, and many more. […]
Neurodiversity means it’s natural for both the adult and the child to develop differently and have their own abilities and struggles.— Cleveland Clinic
The site gives specific examples of cases where an individual might or might not be considered neurotypical or neurodivergent, and lists a number of examples of what they call “conditions”: Asperger’s, ADHD, Down syndrome, Dyslexia, Intellectual Disabilities, Bipolar Disorder, OCD, Anxiety Disorder. So according to Cleveland Clinic’s definition, as someone who has bipolar disorder, I would be considered neurodivergent.
Terms such as “neurodiverse” and “neurodivergent” were introduced in the 1990s by autistic sociologist Judy Singer as an alternative to deficit-based language, such as “disorder.” […] A “neurodivergent” person refers to a person on the autism spectrum or, more generally, to someone whose brain processes information in a way that is not typical of most individuals. — University of Washington’s Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology Program
This definition cites as examples: “learning disabilities, attention deficit and anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Tourette’s syndrome.” The definition is somewhat more restrictive, prioritizing the origins of the term related to autism but saying it can be applied to other situations as well. According to this description, bipolar isn’t explicitly mentioned or excluded, but anxiety (which I do suffer from as well) would be considered neurodivergent.
Neurodivergence is a term used to describe differences in brain function. Classical definitions of neurodivergence include diagnoses of autism, ADHD and dyslexia. However, embracing neurodiversity means going beyond medical definitions by recognizing the whole person.
“Two common examples of neurodivergence, autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), are defined in the diagnostic manual solely as a collection of impairments,” says Lucas Harrington, a psychologist at the UW Autism Center. “In contrast, individuals with these neurotypes often emphasize the commonly associated strengths and quirks as an equally important part of their autistic or ADHD identities.” — Right as Rain by UW Medicine
This discussion emphasizing the importance of not viewing neurodivergence as (only) a negative, but viewing it in terms of a broader definition of who a person is as well as positive characteristics that can come along with a given type of neurodivergence. This site suggests that mental illnesses like bipolar are *not* generally considered as related to neurodivergence, but “some people” include “mental illnesses like anxiety, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)”.
“Neurodivergence is a social theory, not a diagnosis,” explains Dr. Boxley. “You can choose to identify yourself as neurodivergent, but you should not unilaterally assign other people the label of neurodivergent. Not all individuals with a medical diagnosis like autism or ADHD self-identify as neurodivergent. There is also no standard for a ‘neurotypical brain.’”
Neurodivergent individuals often experience differences in mental function, learning styles, sensory processing, communication styles and behaviors. They may struggle with soft skills such as emotional intelligence, social interactions or the ability to work effectively in a group. Other physical behaviors—such as standing too close to someone, speaking too loudly or self-soothing actions like rocking or irregular hand movement—may also be present. — Forbes article “What Does It Mean to Be Neurodivergent”
Forbes’ article emphasizes that neurodivergence is more a question of identity than it is medicine. People can choose whether or not to refer to themselves as neurodivergent, but there are some typical characteristics of people who identify themselves as such.
On a personal level, this description hit home the most because several of the character traits it mentioned — problems with soft skills and social interactions. I’m very bad at initiating conversations. Difficulty with turn-taking when people are talking [do I talk now or wait, people interrupting me because they think I’m done due to pauses in when I speak], not knowing how to do small talk, not being able to stay still like rocking back and forth when I’m standing or sitting (which annoys the hell out of my wife sometimes) definitely describe me.
Most of the sites I found that attempted to give a formal definition did not explicitly exclude bipolar from neurodivergence, but one site in particular excluded bipolar from neurodivergence.
Neurodiversity is a term that refers to the natural differences between people […] and is useful to describe people with varying characteristics and behaviours of neurodevelopmental conditions alongside the “neurotypical” majority in a non-prejudiced way. […]
While it is common for neurodevelopmental conditions to occur with co-occurring mental health conditions, (eg. ADHD + bipolar), due to poor awareness it is also common for neurodevelopmental conditions to be misdiagnosed as mental illness. — “What is Neurodiversity?” ADHD Aware
This site makes a very clear distinction and says that neurodiversity and mental health conditions are *not* the same, but that a person can have both. They appear to be making a distinction at least in part because how you treat something like ADHD is different than how you treat autism. As someone who isn’t a doctor, it does make sense to me that a distinction would need to be made, but would the concept of neurodivergence be the right place to draw a line?
What really makes me hesitate though about whether or not bipolar “counts” as neurodivergent is how many comments from actual people about what they think does or doesn’t fall under neurodivergent. These are random people on the Internet, but as someone whose main social interactions most days are on the Internet, and since these are real people, I feel like I should take this into account. Anecdotally, there were a large number who don’t consider bipolar as neurodivergent, while there were also a large number also do.
Commenters on Reddit and Quora:
• Mental illnesses shouldn't be considered part of the neurodiversity movement. I say this as a person with bipolar disorder as well as ADHD and dyslexia.
• Those things are different from one another. […] Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder, which is a type of mental illness.
• I don’t personally think bipolar falls under the “neurodivergent” umbrella. […] I was born with ADHD. My brain has always processed information differently than those without it. I may have been predisposed to bipolar but I wasn’t born with it, I developed it.
• My brother is autistic, so I only ever heard about it from that perspective. I personally feel a little weird using that term, just because was taught that it was synonymous with being autistic.
• Mental illnesses are inherently detrimental regardless of societal context. Example, there is absolutely nothing good about depression.
• I don’t identify myself with neurodivergence. I was a completely “normal” neurotypical prior to developing symptoms of bipolar disorder when I was already into adulthood
• While the disorder affects my mood, I wouldn’t say it consistently affects the way I think. When I’m stable […] I’m behaviorally identical to any other neurotypical.
• Most mental illnesses can be treated pharmacologically, and the main purpose is to suppress all aspects of it. ASD, dyslexia, and other conditions cannot be treated with medicine.
• Ask yourself this: “If there were a cure available, would I choose to be cured of it?” If the answer is “No,” then you would be right to identify yourself as neurodivergent.
So some people — including some identifying as having bipolar themselves — would think someone with bipolar calling themselves neurodivergent would be confusing, wrong, or possibly offensive.
On the other hand, a large number of people might, or do, consider bipolar as being neurodivergent
Commenters on Reddit and Quora:
• If bipolar isn't neurodiverse I do not know what is.
• I think if you consider something like autism to be a neurodivergence, you should consider something like bipolar to be too.
• Essentially it refers to someone who has fundamentally different brain chemistry than the average person, and has a different method of viewing and interacting with the world as a result
• being neurodiverse means your brain functions differently than a neurotypical person. If you’re bipolar, your brain structure is likely different and the chemicals in your brain are likely altered in concentrations. […] ADHD is the same thing, just with different structural changes and chemical amounts.
• since bipolar brains are empirically structurally different from whatever is “normal,” we are by definition neurodivergent.
• as someone who is bipolar, being told my bipolar made me “mentally ill” never felt right.[…] [The word neurodiverse] has made me feel so much better about myself.
• I think the term is best used to describe any chronic mental health condition, so yes, bipolar disorder.
• neurodivergence just means anything outside of the typical mental health. choose to identify however you want within those realms (:
My current stance in terms of myself is that I am probably technically neurodivergent. But I won’t publicly identify as neurodivergent, partly because I currently am not sure what I feel about the term related to myself, and partly because some in the neurodivergent community — and some who have bipolar as well — don’t agree that mental or psychological conditions such as bipolar disorder should fall under the same umbrella.
As I learn and think more about this, I may either come to embrace it as a way of describing my experiences, or may decide that I am different enough from other people’s experiences who do identify as neurodivergent that it may be better “just” to refer to my specific conditions.
So to make a long story short,
I consider bipolar to be neurodivergent.
I respect people with bipolar’s right to refer to themselves as that
I personally won’t identify myself as neurodivergent, at least for now.
Hopefully whatever side of this discussion you come down on, you can respect other people’s choices of the terms they use to describe themselves. No two people’s brains or experiences are the same, which is part of what makes life so rich and interesting. This should be acknowledged and embraced without having to fight over whether or not someone who genuinely identifies themselves with a label has a right to use that label or not.
I’m interested to hear any thoughts my readers have about this and will be putting up a Twitter and Mastodon poll, and welcome your comments on this as well on Substack or social media.