By DiverseMinds Research Team
Reading time 6 minutes ⏰
Our unifying objective, whether neuro-diverse or not, is to establish a social environment that works for everyone. So, while it may appear that fostering neurodiversity promotes social inclusion, it actually helps everyone who works and lives in society.
From an individual perspective, the most important thing is to communicate effectively. If you meet a neuro-diverse person, put aside your own concerns and feel free to ask them. Each neuro-diverse person is best equipped to know their own experiences and needs, and to know what the most effective support is.
Second, let go of your prejudices as much as possible and try to listen to the needs of neurologically diverse people without being judgmental. By letting neuro-diverse people help you see the world through their eyes, you'll be more likely to appreciate their difficulties and their efforts to adapt to society.
If you have the power to change your environment, I call on you to make your environment more inclusive. Before you judge people or things around you, look at your environment with curiosity and try to accept that other people's experiences and perspectives are different from yours.
Recognize the iceberg effect when people share their problems with you: They only bring up the most obvious ones, and most of the effort and hardship they suffer in silence. In addition, please deal with the situation as it is, and do not judge the character and ability of a neurotic person based on the difficulties raised by that person.
Finally, when you are in the design of a new organization structure, hope you can brainstorm, solicit opinions of the people, especially the such minority groups such as nerve diverse people demand into account, can satisfy the need of more of the environment is an inclusive environment, can let more people benefit the environment also can more greatly stimulate human vitality in this environment.
In the neurodiversity society we live in, it is precisely because of the threat of discrimination and marginalization that neuro-diverse people have to hide their characteristics, and pretend to be "normal people" who look like neurodiversity. Long-term camouflage is also one of the reasons why neuro-diverse people lose themselves, which can lead to depression and anxiety.
If our neurodiversity society were more tolerant, neuro-diverse people would be able to live their lives as undisguised as most people. If we moved to a society where everyone's basic needs were met, there would be no distinction between neurotypicality and neurodiversity.