Neurodivergence is a newer term meant to encompass differences once known as Asperger’s syndrome and/or autism spectrum disorder. The term is somewhat controversial among advocacy groups and autistic individuals. However, the widespread adoption of the term has accomplished what advocates set out to do—destigmatize what they view as simply another human variation. Neurological differences are now thought of more in terms of immutable qualities, like ethnicity or race; the neurodivergent person is another instance of differences in the rich tapestry of humanity rather than a disability or mental disorder.
Does neurodiversity also include ADHD? I see many ADHD children (although, to be sure, at a lesser rate than ASD children) going down the trans route, too.
Thank you for your story. I have a beautiful, smart granddaughter who has been diagnosed with autism and you explained “her world” to me. I will share your writing with my daughter as the need to protect her is even more evident now because of the gender-cult offering a solution when in fact it is erasing and destroying these precious autistic children.
Maybe consider STOPPING the constant, nauseating practice of applying LABELS to everyone and everything, everywhere? It's exhausting and frankly puerile.
There is a growing cadre of children who are completely unvaccinated. Has anyone thought to do a study of how many of these children have autism? Sure would be interesting to know. But I don't think that study will ever be done; it would be too revealing.
I don't think you are threatening anyone . . . most people aren't listening to you . . . Hospitalizations and treatment for vaccine preventable illness are way more lucrative that the vaccines . . . Easier to fool a person than to convince him he's been fooled . . . babies and toddlers change very quickly . . . given that babies get shots every two months or so, any change significant change is likely to happen within a short time of getting a vaccine . . . I think doctors are mis-educated in many ways, and a small percentage are straight-up crooks, as in any profession, but to insinuate that they are lying about vaccine safety? That they won't say that vaccines cause autism unless they are extraordinarily honest? That just beggars belief (that you would actually think almost all peds are liars), especially since the doctors don't make huge amounts of money off the vaccines - that's the pharmaceutical industry. Re: your antidepressant - doctors gaslight patients on psych meds all the time - that's not what's causing your symptoms, you just need more! Hell, I had a doctor tell me Benadryl can't cause a racing heart. Weird, that you have a psychiatrist who doesn't gaslight you but you think most pediatricians are crooks. No, people aren't mad at you for threatening to cost the crooks money, people are mad at you for trying to entice other parents not to prevent serious illness in their children. I'm not mad at you, but I'm glad you've exposed more of your thinking process to assist people in evaluating whether they can trust your conclusions.
Thank you for sharing, you make a very valid and important point. I would add, though, that this is not just about individual psychology. I know from my own son, that a huge part of the problem is physical too. He doesn't like being touched, he wears loose-fitting clothes, he can't abide the sound of other people eating, and so on. These physical aversions meant he totally freaked out when he hit puberty. The fact that gender ideology seemed to offer a way out, was, in part, because it seemed to offer a way out of all the physical discomfort he was experiencing. The ideas and concepts of gender ideology seem to simply be a justification after the fact. Doesn't make it any less pernicious, but I believe the physical is at least as important as the psychological.
As a clinician treating trans identifying youth I can say without hesitation that “gender dysphoria” and the need to transition is almost always coupled with neurodivergence. This is the case in 100% of my caseload, males and females alike. The main difference is that the boys usually get evaluated and diagnosed at a young age while the girls do not.
Wonderful piece, so brilliantly argued and rings so true. I've struggled to mentally articulate these very points as regards my own trans-identified autistic kid and it's vindicating to see them clarified in so cogent an essay. Unfortunately, the way this thing is being framed by the very groups supposed to advocate for our neurodivergent kids, is that an attraction to trans is somehow innate to the condition, part of the insidious 'true selves' argument. For example, I've written multiple times to the National Autistic Society asking them to include, for example, detransitioner accounts on their gender identity page, receiving no acknowledgment of these letters. Well done for bringing this to the light.
Yes, true and well said too. Our neurodivergent family members are being sterilised because their differences are not valued. This is discrimination and is unjust. Autistic people were institutionalised only a few decades ago. This is no longer popular. Now the treatment offered is gender change and acceptance within society, legally enforced. Insanity has been normalised. As I question this eugenics movement I am excluded from “normal” society.
As a late diagnosed autistic (and lesbian) woman, this article and a few of the comments really touched on a few points for me. I received my diagnosis 2 years ago, at the age of 54, and it changed my life.
Here are a few things I feel the need to say.
1. Vaccines do not cause autism.
I am a huge believer in science and medicine. However, I know that science and medicine have been corrupted by capitalist and political interest. I believe in what is called “informed consent” – but, in contrary to how things might seem in 2023, this is as difficult as it has been ever, maybe even more, due to tampered and corrupted information. Vaccines are a huge issue, but they do not cause autism. But maybe they have different (stronger) impact on our brains, that is something I can very well imagine.
2. Terminology.
I do use the terminology of neurodivergence, however, I also see the shortcomings of it. One being that, should autism not be seen as a discapacity anymore on an official level, a lot of support for many families would just drop away, leaving individuals and parents of young and older children who need much support in pure dispair. It’s a bit like trying to put a race horse and a tiny shetland pony into the same game category, with the same riders, diet, workout, climate… both are horses but completely different. This metaphor only describes the 2 far ends of autism, and there is so much colour variation in between.
What I once again noticed though, reading the article and some of the comments, is that there are countless different levels and facettes and nuances to autism and other neurodiverse conditions. Yes, it’s truly diverse!
3. Autism and empathy, and other prejudices.
There are a lot more highly empathetic autistic people than society is aware of – we just all too often are plainly overwhelmed and don’t know what to say, how to react… because so often what we say is perceived in the wrong way, especially when it’s about vulnerable things and moments. It took me until my early 50s (a few years before I suspected actual autism, until then I always only just knew that “I’m too different") that it is perfectly okay NOT to say anything, when someone shares vulnerable emotions. As for other situations… yes, many of us can relate and feel empathy. What I think could be a challenge though when it comes to social dishonesty, as part of the social game, especially the flirting game, among (young) adults. I can say about myself that to this very day I will notice this “Huh? Something’s off…? Why he/she doing/saying this?” moment, meaning, when someone might be “playing”… but I can’t catch up.
And also, I don’t understand it. I don’t understand WHY it has to be done like this. And I could imagine that a lot of other autistic people feel similarly and sort of “remove themselves” mentally/emotionally, which of course by the peers would be perceived as something negative and lack of empathy. In my case it always was like this.
As for me, together with autism I have also been given a high amount of intelligence, intellectual as well as emotional. This proved all my life as equally a blessing and a curse. It enabled me to “counteract” the “missing pages in the manual”, but of course this came at a price. Not only took this a huge toll on my mental health, but also on my academic performance (the mental power to do what could have been possible with the intellectual capacity went to a large degree into this counteracting). Also, socially. I could act brilliantly – on some days, and on others barely, and when the same people experienced this difference, they sometimes made fun of me, teased me or downright forced me to be my “highly functional” act. I never was aware that I was “acting” – but all my life I was VERY aware that I am totally different, and that most people did not like that at all (not to mention the utter exhaustion of making myself “fit in”).
4. Gender dysphoria.
I had that. Big time. Of course!! You grow up in a world where, for instance, one of your special interests is ancient mythology, from Greek to Egyptian to anything you find in one of the 3 public libraries of your little home town. And everywhere it’s about men, men and boys, they are strong, valiant, heroic… and the women do the dishes. And if they don’t do the dishes, they have alabaster skin and tender breasts and seductive deep eyes and wet red lips… I did not have that. I had never seen that on anyone. And later, girls were “hot chicks” on motorcycles. If anything, I wanted the motorcycle and not the red bikini and certainly not kissing the bearded idiot grinning on the ad. Later I was into mountain bikes, and I remember, already in the 2000s, Cannondale had an ad in a MTB magazine that enfuriated women on both sides of the Atlantic.
Of course girls and young women don’t want that. Not just because it is so degrading, but also, yes, we KNOW that we’re different, we DO feel like aliens abandoned on this planet…
And nowadays it’s the hype to be trans. “Oh, I’m not wrong – my body is wrong. And that’s easy. Just a few hormones and a few cuts.” Just the other day I read on the FB page of an autistic woman in the UK, grown-up woman in her 40s, with wife and kids, talking about taking hormones and transitioning as if it just were another form of clothing style.
So, as much as it pains me, here I have to say: the article is right about this. Autistic people are an easy target. Not only the youth. Sometimes I look around on IG and FB for autism, and the amount of mostly young autistic females identifying as trans makes me want to scream.
So, in this light I can see where you are coming from about the terminology… you certainly have a point. Now I understand why the other day (on a Spanish publications in FB and IG) some people reacted really aggressively about the post being about neurodivergence and the educational info.
The bottom line, I guess, may be this: if we “re-categorize” autism and don’t classify it as a discapacity anymore, but “just another form of brain”, A LOT of individuals and families will be thrown into economic and health care jeopardy.
Such a change of approach can only come TOGETHER with a different approach to health, mental and physical, and well-being.
Also, it will put US autistic people again under the pressure of “playing along” – now that it’s not a negative thing anymore, and this happens very quickly and very easily, even with good and trusted friends. In certain ways and for some reasons, neurotypicals often have the tendency to push through with their own interests, thinking “it’s not that bad”, “come on, you’re fine!” and like that. And we autistic and otherwise neurodiverse people have the tendency to give in. They (the neurotypical friends and family) believe they know what’s good (for us) – and we believe them.
Which is a form of empathy (double empathy).
Which is also where that situation comes in, that one person describes in the comments: the sex offender gone trans and then housed in a female prison in a cell with a developmentally disabled female that he abused the whole time. I can see this happen to myself: if the person doesn’t apply brute violence but subtle “sweet talk” and manipulation… I couldn’t say that I’d not give in. Whether I’d like it or not, and I would realize that only weeks or months later. And no high IQ can protect me from that because it’s a processing thing in the brain, connected to the emotions.
And that in itself is nearly impossible to get others, i.e. neurotypicals to understand.
But it’s a thing.
Please allow me here to refer to the LGB Alliance US: they have monthly Zoom meetings for various groups, also neurodiverse lesbian, gay and bisexual women and men, and also they have a group for gender dysphoria. That one is very strict and moderated tightly. At the moment I don’t know if there’s a special “chapter” for the youth… but that could be worth discussing with them.
I really don’t know how we can protect the gay and lesbian (and bi) autistic kids… I am talking about this with my doctor all the time, she is fully on my page (against gender ideology). It’s one autistic kid at a time, I guess…
My son has never been diagnosed. He academically always did very well. He had a select group of friends. As an educator I didn’t feel it was necessary. I saw no benefit to him. I also always believed that we all are unique and many of us have quirks. This makes the world a more interesting place. Never did I think a danger and predictors were waiting for kids just like him.
Helping to make neurodiverse/autistic men and women sterile is discriminatory, full stop. Not only that, by starting the process at younger and younger ages, the likelihood that they will be able to experience adequate sexual function or pleasure as adults, or even be able to form healthy dating relationships, is greatly reduced. Simply put, they are being preyed upon.
Does neurodiversity also include ADHD? I see many ADHD children (although, to be sure, at a lesser rate than ASD children) going down the trans route, too.
Thank you for your story. I have a beautiful, smart granddaughter who has been diagnosed with autism and you explained “her world” to me. I will share your writing with my daughter as the need to protect her is even more evident now because of the gender-cult offering a solution when in fact it is erasing and destroying these precious autistic children.
Great post. Here’s an article that really informed me that touches on a lot of these same topics but from a different perspective...
https://open.substack.com/pub/bprice/p/trans-is-something-we-made-up?r=k7m1r&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Maybe consider STOPPING the constant, nauseating practice of applying LABELS to everyone and everything, everywhere? It's exhausting and frankly puerile.
There is a growing cadre of children who are completely unvaccinated. Has anyone thought to do a study of how many of these children have autism? Sure would be interesting to know. But I don't think that study will ever be done; it would be too revealing.
Thank you for writing this. I am guessing you are the parent of such a child, for you to get to the heart of this tangle so well.
I don't think you are threatening anyone . . . most people aren't listening to you . . . Hospitalizations and treatment for vaccine preventable illness are way more lucrative that the vaccines . . . Easier to fool a person than to convince him he's been fooled . . . babies and toddlers change very quickly . . . given that babies get shots every two months or so, any change significant change is likely to happen within a short time of getting a vaccine . . . I think doctors are mis-educated in many ways, and a small percentage are straight-up crooks, as in any profession, but to insinuate that they are lying about vaccine safety? That they won't say that vaccines cause autism unless they are extraordinarily honest? That just beggars belief (that you would actually think almost all peds are liars), especially since the doctors don't make huge amounts of money off the vaccines - that's the pharmaceutical industry. Re: your antidepressant - doctors gaslight patients on psych meds all the time - that's not what's causing your symptoms, you just need more! Hell, I had a doctor tell me Benadryl can't cause a racing heart. Weird, that you have a psychiatrist who doesn't gaslight you but you think most pediatricians are crooks. No, people aren't mad at you for threatening to cost the crooks money, people are mad at you for trying to entice other parents not to prevent serious illness in their children. I'm not mad at you, but I'm glad you've exposed more of your thinking process to assist people in evaluating whether they can trust your conclusions.
Thank you for sharing, you make a very valid and important point. I would add, though, that this is not just about individual psychology. I know from my own son, that a huge part of the problem is physical too. He doesn't like being touched, he wears loose-fitting clothes, he can't abide the sound of other people eating, and so on. These physical aversions meant he totally freaked out when he hit puberty. The fact that gender ideology seemed to offer a way out, was, in part, because it seemed to offer a way out of all the physical discomfort he was experiencing. The ideas and concepts of gender ideology seem to simply be a justification after the fact. Doesn't make it any less pernicious, but I believe the physical is at least as important as the psychological.
As a clinician treating trans identifying youth I can say without hesitation that “gender dysphoria” and the need to transition is almost always coupled with neurodivergence. This is the case in 100% of my caseload, males and females alike. The main difference is that the boys usually get evaluated and diagnosed at a young age while the girls do not.
BRILLIANTLY WRITTEN!!
Wonderful piece, so brilliantly argued and rings so true. I've struggled to mentally articulate these very points as regards my own trans-identified autistic kid and it's vindicating to see them clarified in so cogent an essay. Unfortunately, the way this thing is being framed by the very groups supposed to advocate for our neurodivergent kids, is that an attraction to trans is somehow innate to the condition, part of the insidious 'true selves' argument. For example, I've written multiple times to the National Autistic Society asking them to include, for example, detransitioner accounts on their gender identity page, receiving no acknowledgment of these letters. Well done for bringing this to the light.
Yes, true and well said too. Our neurodivergent family members are being sterilised because their differences are not valued. This is discrimination and is unjust. Autistic people were institutionalised only a few decades ago. This is no longer popular. Now the treatment offered is gender change and acceptance within society, legally enforced. Insanity has been normalised. As I question this eugenics movement I am excluded from “normal” society.
As a late diagnosed autistic (and lesbian) woman, this article and a few of the comments really touched on a few points for me. I received my diagnosis 2 years ago, at the age of 54, and it changed my life.
Here are a few things I feel the need to say.
1. Vaccines do not cause autism.
I am a huge believer in science and medicine. However, I know that science and medicine have been corrupted by capitalist and political interest. I believe in what is called “informed consent” – but, in contrary to how things might seem in 2023, this is as difficult as it has been ever, maybe even more, due to tampered and corrupted information. Vaccines are a huge issue, but they do not cause autism. But maybe they have different (stronger) impact on our brains, that is something I can very well imagine.
2. Terminology.
I do use the terminology of neurodivergence, however, I also see the shortcomings of it. One being that, should autism not be seen as a discapacity anymore on an official level, a lot of support for many families would just drop away, leaving individuals and parents of young and older children who need much support in pure dispair. It’s a bit like trying to put a race horse and a tiny shetland pony into the same game category, with the same riders, diet, workout, climate… both are horses but completely different. This metaphor only describes the 2 far ends of autism, and there is so much colour variation in between.
What I once again noticed though, reading the article and some of the comments, is that there are countless different levels and facettes and nuances to autism and other neurodiverse conditions. Yes, it’s truly diverse!
3. Autism and empathy, and other prejudices.
There are a lot more highly empathetic autistic people than society is aware of – we just all too often are plainly overwhelmed and don’t know what to say, how to react… because so often what we say is perceived in the wrong way, especially when it’s about vulnerable things and moments. It took me until my early 50s (a few years before I suspected actual autism, until then I always only just knew that “I’m too different") that it is perfectly okay NOT to say anything, when someone shares vulnerable emotions. As for other situations… yes, many of us can relate and feel empathy. What I think could be a challenge though when it comes to social dishonesty, as part of the social game, especially the flirting game, among (young) adults. I can say about myself that to this very day I will notice this “Huh? Something’s off…? Why he/she doing/saying this?” moment, meaning, when someone might be “playing”… but I can’t catch up.
And also, I don’t understand it. I don’t understand WHY it has to be done like this. And I could imagine that a lot of other autistic people feel similarly and sort of “remove themselves” mentally/emotionally, which of course by the peers would be perceived as something negative and lack of empathy. In my case it always was like this.
As for me, together with autism I have also been given a high amount of intelligence, intellectual as well as emotional. This proved all my life as equally a blessing and a curse. It enabled me to “counteract” the “missing pages in the manual”, but of course this came at a price. Not only took this a huge toll on my mental health, but also on my academic performance (the mental power to do what could have been possible with the intellectual capacity went to a large degree into this counteracting). Also, socially. I could act brilliantly – on some days, and on others barely, and when the same people experienced this difference, they sometimes made fun of me, teased me or downright forced me to be my “highly functional” act. I never was aware that I was “acting” – but all my life I was VERY aware that I am totally different, and that most people did not like that at all (not to mention the utter exhaustion of making myself “fit in”).
4. Gender dysphoria.
I had that. Big time. Of course!! You grow up in a world where, for instance, one of your special interests is ancient mythology, from Greek to Egyptian to anything you find in one of the 3 public libraries of your little home town. And everywhere it’s about men, men and boys, they are strong, valiant, heroic… and the women do the dishes. And if they don’t do the dishes, they have alabaster skin and tender breasts and seductive deep eyes and wet red lips… I did not have that. I had never seen that on anyone. And later, girls were “hot chicks” on motorcycles. If anything, I wanted the motorcycle and not the red bikini and certainly not kissing the bearded idiot grinning on the ad. Later I was into mountain bikes, and I remember, already in the 2000s, Cannondale had an ad in a MTB magazine that enfuriated women on both sides of the Atlantic.
Of course girls and young women don’t want that. Not just because it is so degrading, but also, yes, we KNOW that we’re different, we DO feel like aliens abandoned on this planet…
And nowadays it’s the hype to be trans. “Oh, I’m not wrong – my body is wrong. And that’s easy. Just a few hormones and a few cuts.” Just the other day I read on the FB page of an autistic woman in the UK, grown-up woman in her 40s, with wife and kids, talking about taking hormones and transitioning as if it just were another form of clothing style.
So, as much as it pains me, here I have to say: the article is right about this. Autistic people are an easy target. Not only the youth. Sometimes I look around on IG and FB for autism, and the amount of mostly young autistic females identifying as trans makes me want to scream.
So, in this light I can see where you are coming from about the terminology… you certainly have a point. Now I understand why the other day (on a Spanish publications in FB and IG) some people reacted really aggressively about the post being about neurodivergence and the educational info.
The bottom line, I guess, may be this: if we “re-categorize” autism and don’t classify it as a discapacity anymore, but “just another form of brain”, A LOT of individuals and families will be thrown into economic and health care jeopardy.
Such a change of approach can only come TOGETHER with a different approach to health, mental and physical, and well-being.
Also, it will put US autistic people again under the pressure of “playing along” – now that it’s not a negative thing anymore, and this happens very quickly and very easily, even with good and trusted friends. In certain ways and for some reasons, neurotypicals often have the tendency to push through with their own interests, thinking “it’s not that bad”, “come on, you’re fine!” and like that. And we autistic and otherwise neurodiverse people have the tendency to give in. They (the neurotypical friends and family) believe they know what’s good (for us) – and we believe them.
Which is a form of empathy (double empathy).
Which is also where that situation comes in, that one person describes in the comments: the sex offender gone trans and then housed in a female prison in a cell with a developmentally disabled female that he abused the whole time. I can see this happen to myself: if the person doesn’t apply brute violence but subtle “sweet talk” and manipulation… I couldn’t say that I’d not give in. Whether I’d like it or not, and I would realize that only weeks or months later. And no high IQ can protect me from that because it’s a processing thing in the brain, connected to the emotions.
And that in itself is nearly impossible to get others, i.e. neurotypicals to understand.
But it’s a thing.
Please allow me here to refer to the LGB Alliance US: they have monthly Zoom meetings for various groups, also neurodiverse lesbian, gay and bisexual women and men, and also they have a group for gender dysphoria. That one is very strict and moderated tightly. At the moment I don’t know if there’s a special “chapter” for the youth… but that could be worth discussing with them.
I really don’t know how we can protect the gay and lesbian (and bi) autistic kids… I am talking about this with my doctor all the time, she is fully on my page (against gender ideology). It’s one autistic kid at a time, I guess…
My son has never been diagnosed. He academically always did very well. He had a select group of friends. As an educator I didn’t feel it was necessary. I saw no benefit to him. I also always believed that we all are unique and many of us have quirks. This makes the world a more interesting place. Never did I think a danger and predictors were waiting for kids just like him.
Excellent.
Helping to make neurodiverse/autistic men and women sterile is discriminatory, full stop. Not only that, by starting the process at younger and younger ages, the likelihood that they will be able to experience adequate sexual function or pleasure as adults, or even be able to form healthy dating relationships, is greatly reduced. Simply put, they are being preyed upon.
I’m glad you posted this.
THEY CANT STAND THE TRUTH