"People often ask me if neurodivergence is a disability. The answer is not a "yes" or "no"-the issue is quite complex. Individuals and community groups fight about whether neurodivergence is disability, a difference, or perhaps a superpower. In the larger culture, school systems, employers, governments, and parking lot vigilantes insist on developing clear-cut "boxes" for who is and is not disabled."
"Non-apparent disability. For example, a person may experience ADHD or autism as limiting their participation in life, while others don't perceive them as disabled. Apparent disability. Others perceive struggles or limitations of non-speaking autism, Tourette's with apparent tics, etc. Not disability. Typically, giftedness or synesthesia does not manifest as disability. In some cases, well-accommodated, wealth-accommodated AuDHD or dyslexia or other forms of neurodivergence can be experienced as superpowers."
Labeling neurodivergence as simply a disability, a difference, or a superpower oversimplifies a complex, context-dependent phenomenon. Forcing people into categorical boxes causes real pain because human experiences are nonlinear and change over time and circumstances. Neurodivergence can be non-apparent, apparent, or not a disability at all depending on perception, accommodation, and resources. Social barriers, rather than impairments alone, create disability by designing environments that assume a narrow range of sensory and functional norms. The social model of disability distinguishes impairment from disabling social structures, emphasizing that accessible design and accommodations reduce or eliminate disability.
Read at Psychology Today
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