Diversity Week: What is neurodivergence?

From Monday 5 until Friday 9 October, the UG celebrates Diversity Week. Throughout the week, students and staff are invited to take part in various activities to learn and share about all kinds of aspects of diversity that can be found within our academic community. To give you a little taster, associate professor of psychology Yvonne Groen and assistant professor of psychology Novika Purnama Sari explain how understanding neurodivergence will make the university a better place for all of us.

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Diverse vs Divergent

You might have heard the terms "neurodiversity" and "neurodivergence" used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. ‘Neurodiversity is the natural human variation of the development of the human brain. We all differ when it comes to things like social skills, language and communication, cognitive ability or sensory processing,’ Groen explains. ‘But neurodivergence is a more extreme variation of neurodiversity. These people have significant differences in brain development.’ There are different forms of neurodivergence, in some people there are traits that can warrant an ADHD or Autism Spectrum Disorder classification, but there are many more examples. ‘Differences in intelligence, like with gifted people, are also seen as neurodivergent. As are people with differences in motor coordination, it goes far beyond just ADHD and autism,’ Groen continues.

Masking

The world is built for neurotypical people - people who aren’t neurodivergent. ‘Many neurodivergent people have felt different their entire lives, they know things work differently for them’, Groen says. As a survival strategy, many neurodivergent people camouflage certain behaviours. ‘They will apply certain behaviours they have overlearned, even though those things don’t come natural to them, or they tone down certain aspects of themselves, to not stand out,’ Purnama Sari explains. According to Groen ‘masking’ takes a lot of effort and when people feel the need to mask a lot, this can have a negative effect on someone's mental health. ‘They can feel a lot of pressure to fit in, to not be seen as weird, and this in turn can lead to feelings of shame, loneliness and anxiety,’ she adds.

Acceptance

What can we do to make things a bit easier for those that are neurodivergent at our university? ‘It all begins with understanding differences and not blaming people when they show their differences,’ Groen thinks. ‘Don’t think a person with autism doesn’t have feelings or empathy, because they didn’t react in the way you expected. They have feelings and empathy but they may express it in a different way. So it’s also important to have empathy from the neurotypical point of view.’ In other words: neurodivergent people are trying to fit into the mold, so the least we can do is adjust to them as well. ‘Ask them what they prefer, what they need, and don’t assume,’ Purnama Sari adds. ‘They can advocate for themselves if you provide a safe space for them to do so.’ 

Want to dive into this topic some more? During Neurodiversity@university: Studying with ADHD and autism on Wednesday 7 Yvonne Groen, Novika Purnama Sari together with former Research master student Jadwiga Michlewiz will share more about their research. They also join the session Seen and accepted: fostering belonging through a neurodivergent lens, on Tuesday 8 October. For more information as well as many other programme points, view the entire Diversity Week programme here.

More information

• Yvonne Groen

• Novika Purnama Sari