Hi, my name is Stephanie and for day three of World Autism Awareness Week, I
wanted to talk to you about the concept of a neurodiversity. Also, yes, it's
spring, but my beanie does not care. So, what is neurodiversity? It's the idea
that our brains are diverse, that differences in our brains are just that -
differences. It means that having a brain that works a different way isn't
necessarily bad or a wrong way of it working. The idea is that things that we
have deemed to be disorders are actually just naturally occurring differences.
This also combats the idea of needing a cure because why would you need to cure
something that's just a naturally occurring difference? So, what does it
mean to be neurotypical? Well, that just means that your brain works typically -
the way that is the "normal" way for your brain to work. So, basically it's the
typically seen way of a brain working, what is most accepted as normal in
societal standards. So, someone who is neuro-
atypical is someone who does not have a neurotypical or typical working of the
mind. Neuro-atypical and neurodivergent are
both ways of describing a brain that diverges from the societal version of
normal for your brain to work. Also NT is the shortened version of neurotypical,
and ND is a shortened version of neurodivergent. Please note that it is
not only people who are on the spectrum that are neurodivergent.
This includes anyone whose brain isn't considered neurotypical. So, this could be
ADHD, apraxia, dyslexia, bipolar - all those sorts of things those would all be
considered neurodivergent. So, I definitely think that it is an important
take on how our brains work and understanding our differences. The idea
that it's just that our brains are different instead of thinking, oh, you
know, this person is crazy, or this person is just a wacko, or, you know, that
person really needs help, or they're really disabled
because they don't look or act like I do. So, I think that it is important to
understand that our brains are just working differently. However, I do think
that we have to also acknowledge that we do have shortcomings that people who are
considered neurotypical do not have. This is where people's hatred of the
idea of autism being a disability kind of has to clash with reality, and that is
that in the world that we live in, it's really geared toward neurotypical people
because they're considered "typical," right? So, in their eyes, we have a deficit of
ability in things that they have a normal amount of ability in. So, that
would put it as a disability and for the necessity of getting help, it is
important to understand that that is a moment where it would be considered a
disability. Because, in reality, sometimes, we need some help navigating a world
that really seems to be catered towards neurotypicals and understanding
how to deal with those things, and ... receiving help. Which for many of us is
necessary. I think we should be humble enough to acknowledge the places that we
don't strive in. However, let me stress the idea that we should also acknowledge
where we have abilities that people who are neurotypical do not. I think this
further solidifies the idea of neurodiversity because we're seeing that just
like in pretty much everything else, we experience in our brains, we also have
strengths and weaknesses in different areas. Thank you so much for watching. I
hope this helped you understand the idea of neurodiversity and what it
means to be neurotypical, neuro-atypical, neurodivergent, all those sorts
of things. If you enjoyed this video, go ahead and give it a thumbs up. I hope
you're enjoying the daily videos during at World Autism Awareness Week and
definitely hang around for tomorrow's video. I hope that you're having a
wonderful week so far and see me in my next video. Bye!