12/20/2025
This is from my latest newsletter. Click below to see it with all of the info and links.
"The neurodiversity paradigm, an ecological view on the array of humanity’s neurotypes, offers a different way of seeing yourself and the world. Nick Walker, author of Neuroqueer Heresies, wrote a piece in 2014 that lays it out:
What It Means:
The neurodiversity paradigm is a specific perspective on neurodiversity – a perspective or approach that boils down to these fundamental principles:
1.) Neurodiversity is a natural and valuable form of human diversity.
2.) The idea that there is one “normal” or “healthy” type of brain or mind, or one “right” style of neurocognitive functioning, is a culturally constructed fiction, no more valid (and no more conducive to a healthy society or to the overall well-being of humanity) than the idea that there is one “normal” or “right” ethnicity, gender, or culture.
3.) The social dynamics that manifest in regard to neurodiversity are similar to the social dynamics that manifest in regard to other forms of human diversity (e.g., diversity of ethnicity, gender, or culture). These dynamics include the dynamics of social power inequalities, and also the dynamics by which diversity, when embraced, acts as a source of creative potential.
In considering the biodiversity of a healthy ecosystem, it’s easy to acknowledge the important web of relationships that dynamically coexist. It’s easy to recognize that the pine tree doesn’t have Oak Tree Deficit Disorder, that the orchid doesn’t need treatment in order to become more like English Ivy. The medical model has worked hard for a long time to try to get neurodivergent people to look and act more like folks closer to some neurotypical ideal. This system of control can result in distorted self-concepts rooted in “there’s something wrong with me,” and the consequences of carrying that distortion can metastasize into shame, anxiety, depression, etc.
Intense, Complex, Sensitive Gifted people get the “you ain’t right” message, especially when we show up with our other neurodivergences and dimensions that are many standard deviations from the norms. We can know the challenges that result from the extremes we experience, and we can work toward building a nervous system, self-concept, and way of life that accommodates our muchness.
As you’re moving through your day today, adapting to neuronormative culture and systems, take a moment to see that you are as much a part of a vast, neurodiverse species as anyone else. You belong.
I recently got to talk about the neurodiversity paradigm on the Nerding Out On Neurodiversity podcast hosted by Dr. Matt Zakreski, a clinical psychologist and speaker, and Jake Noonan, an educational coach and humanities teacher. It caps a year of invitations from luminaries across giftedland. I’m honored to be invited and honored to have the opportunity to share the reality that gifted and otherwise neurodivergent people can pry themselves out of the medical model and perceive their own experience differently. We can become ‘bicultural’ - employing medical model language when it’s helpful and convenient, while knowing our differences are a product of nature and its variants.
Contents:
Pod-o-rama: The Playlist
Group-o-rama: Creativity and Community
Holiday Calendar
2026 Rate Changes"
The neurodiversity paradigm, an ecological view on the array of humanity’s neurotypes, offers a different way of seeing yourself and the world. Nick Walker, author of Neuroqueer Heresies, wrote a piece in 2014 that lays it out:
