Autistic Spectrum Digest (Autism) Issue 18, April 2015 | Page 2

Every month we endeavour to bring you aspects of life living with autism and the hotbeds of debate in the autism community. This month we take a deeper look at neurodiversity and the neurodiversity movement. The suggestion that the human genome is a diverse and forever evolving is a concept embraced when discussing the term neurodiversity. Conditions like Autism and ADHD are viewed as naturally occurring changes within the human genome, and that they have been prevalent since the day dot. The neurodiverse movement started within the autism community shortly thereafter, and here we share those voices for and against the ideals of the movement. The human species is a collection of diversity, and human brains are no different. We are all a culmination of genetics, up bringing, culture, education and circumstance. We are an incredibly diverse species and all the aforementioned factors make an individual. For some these can make uncomfortable reading, I can certainly ascertain to have learnt much more about an area of the community I knew very little about. I thoroughly hope that you enjoy this month’s offering and look forward to seeing you back next month! Although a hotbed of fiery debate within the autism community the foundations of neurodiversity is continually backed up by more research science, the recognition that autism, ADHD and other “pathologically diagnosed” conditions are a result of genetics, coding and environment as opposed to any damage caused by, for example, vaccination. The term neurodiversity itself dates back to at least the late 1990’s but has come to the fore in more recent times, but there is a whole audience of people, neurotypical and autistic who have never heard the term before. 2