The neurodiversity paradigm is a framework for understanding human brain function that recognizes the diversity within sensory processing, motor abilities, social comfort, cognition, and focus as neurobiological differences. This diversity falls on a spectrum of neurocognitive function.[1] The neurodiversity paradigm argues that diversity in human cognition is normal and that some conditions generally classified as disorders, such as autism, are differences and disabilities that are not necessarily pathological.
The neurodiversity movement started in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the start of Autism Network International. Much of the correspondence that led to the formation of the movement happened over autism conferences, namely the autistic-led autreat, penpal lists, and Usenet.
The framework grew out of the disability rights movement and builds on the social model of disability, arguing that disability partly arises from societal barriers, rather than attributing disability purely to inherent deficits.[2] It instead situates human cognitive variation in the context of biodiversity and the politics of minority groups.[3][4][5] Some neurodiversity advocates and researchers argue that the neurodiversity paradigm is the middle ground between a strong medical model and a strong social model.[6][7][8]