Neurodivergent Psych
divergentpsych.bsky.social
Neurodivergent Psych
@divergentpsych.bsky.social
160 followers 230 following 97 posts
ADHD Psychologist, husband, father, horror/scifi and music fan. Neuroqueer. Originator of the terms “Neurodiversity Affirmative Therapy" and "ADHDer." Star Trek>>>Star Wars
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In America, it’s called ADHD. 🤣
Good time to remind folks to stream this song, as proceeds go to Ukraine efforts. Pls repost:
Zelensky: The Man With the Iron Balls

Song by members of Primus and Gogol Bordello, along with Billy Strings, Sean Lennon, and Stewart Copeland.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bowj...
Claypool, Hütz, Copeland, Lennon, Ryabtsev, & Strings - "Zelensky: The Man With the Iron Balls"
YouTube video by officialprimus
www.youtube.com
good choice. His best role though Id say is Renfield in Dracula.
While I’m all for a strengths based approach with neurodivergent people, aggregating it like this feels othering and forwarding stereotypes.
Reminder: Neurodivergent is a political designation, not a medical one. Though many medical diagnoses fall under the neurodivergent umbrella, Neurodivergent is a term of political liberation.
:). related - ever watch Sam Raimi’s Oz movie? It was a beat for best remake of Army of Darkness. I was laughing myself silly in the theater when I realized it and no one talks about it. Epic trolling.
Folks who try to medicalize this into categories of exclusion are not only wrong, but have missed the entire liberatory aspect of why the term neurodivergent was coined in the first place.

It is a term of inclusion and collective liberation. Not a term of exclusion and segregation. 6/6
People who are using neurodivergent to just mean autism and ADHD are co-opting it for their own purposes, usually supremacist or separatist in origin (e.g. I am ADHD, not mentally ill, like those other people.) 5/6
This is the most accepted definition by neurodiversity advocates who actually coined the term (specifically @dragonix.bsky.social Kassiane Asasumasu who invented it). 4/6
Acquired brain differences like bipolar, depression, personality disorders, brain injuries, ptsd, etc are also forms of neurodivergence.

Neurodivergence also includes positive brain changes like those experienced through long term meditation or psychadelic use. 3/6
Developmental “disorders” (put in quotes because the term disorder is problematic) like Autism and ADHD are only one form of neurodivergence - often called innate neurodivergence. Learing disabilities, Down Syndrome, giftedness, etc are all forms of innate neurodivergence. 2/6
Neurodivergent means ANY way our brains differ than the what generally fits into Neuronormative society. It is a political designation that comes from liberatory thinkers. It is not a medical diagnosis. 1/6
Made up a winter cocktail y’all. I give you The United Kingdom:

Cuppa Earl Grey, Hot (England)
Shot of Baileys (Ireland)
Half shot of peated scotch (Scotland)

Warm and delicious and earthy. Try it and tell me how it goes!

(Sorry Wales)
For the curious - I sang I Will Survive by Cake, Start Wearing Purple by Gogol Bordello, and Only a Lad by Oingo Boingo.
I’m at Karaoke this evening. Someone sang The Waiting by Tom Petty and then a duet of Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around by Stevie Nicks and Petty. Unexpectedly hit right in the heat. Don’t know if I’ll ever get over Petty’s death. My first concert, the first artist I loved post childhood.
look behind you! A three headed monkey!!
it’s also super frustrating when people use these terms and then offer standard therapies or talk about neurodivergent conditions as if they are pathologies.
terms like neurodivergent or neurodivergence are specifically tied to the Neurodiversity Paradigm. To use these words and then go on to stigmatize other forms of neurodivergence is philosophically inconsistent. This includes stigma against things like schizophrenia, Bipolar, & personality disorders.
sure. I’m also open to a longer conversation if you’d like.
Meanwhile, the actual Tesla, who was impoverished and had a deep sense of communal fidelity, gave the world amazing things but died young and penniless. It's the social milieu interacting with the neurodivergence that causes outcomes...not the neurodivergence itself.