The Neurodivergent Umbrella
- Nat Cooper
- May 17
- 3 min read
If you’ve stumbled across this blog, odds are you’ve heard of neurodivergence. There’s also a chance that you associate this term with ADHD, Autism, or both.
The limits of this assumption absolutely make sense and may very well be more-or-less correct for the majority of people using the term in their usual routine. But the neurodivergent umbrella is a lot more expansive than most people realize.
The term neurotypical arose in the 1990s as a way to shift the narrative around those with neurological “deficits,” and to emphasize these ways of thinking and processing as different rather than lesser. The term was used in part to uplift and highlight high-profile neurodivergent figures (the autistic trailblazing savants, or influential schizophrenic artists), though this framing can overlook the many neurodivergent individuals whose experiences include significant struggle (which exists alongside, rather than in opposition to, success).
Neurodivergent, as a term, was coined less than a decade later by Kassiane Asasumasu, an autistic activist and neurodiversity advocate. It was never a short-form for adhd and/or autism, but an inclusive term for people whose brains function differently from the societal "normal," and its development was an important step in dismantling ableism and pathology around those “different” minds.
So, neurodivergent refers to a brain that doesn’t function the way we have historically expected a brain to function (a brain that is different from the ones that our world has been built to accommodate).
I mentioned the neurodivergent umbrella. An umbrella term simply refers to a term that covers a wide range of specific, related concepts with common characteristics. Grouping concepts together creates an all-encompassing term that gives someone a vague way of describing their experience without getting into details or disclosing one or multiple medical diagnoses, while articulating a divergent way of living.
If someone uses the term neurodivergent to refer to themselves, it could mean they have adhd or autism. It could also mean they experience traits or have been diagnosed with any (or several) of the following conditions:
dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, dyspraxia, Tourette's syndrome, Down syndrome, sensory processing disorder, executive function challenges, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, epilepsy, synesthesia, dissociative disorders, and many others.
Acquired neurodivergence can look like having sustained a Traumatic Brain Injury, permanent or lingering cognitive changes from a stroke, or a dementia-related disease or disorder.
For the record: you don’t have to ask someone what condition, specifically, makes them neurodivergent if they share that identifier with you. Usually, the most respectful response is to wait and see if they are comfortable sharing without any pressure, or to recognize whether they have made it generally known that this is a comfortable subject for them to speak on. It could very well be information for only their medical practitioners to be aware of.
The point is that neurodivergence was never meant to describe just one type of person or one narrow cluster of diagnoses. It’s a broad, evolving term that recognizes the many ways human brains can differ from what society has historically treated as “normal.” Some forms of neurodivergence are innate. Others are acquired through injury, illness, trauma, or neurological change later in life. Some people experience these differences as disabling, some as identity, many as both, and most somewhere in between.
And while it’s become increasingly common online to use “neurodivergent” as shorthand for Autism, ADHD, or AuDHD, reducing it to only those experiences risks flattening the very diversity the term was created to acknowledge.
Further reading:
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