The concept of neurodiversity has gained wide recognition in mainstream society within the past two decades. As it is now increasingly used in education and clinical settings, its original meaning, which comes from grassroots neurodivergent activism, has been skewed. While initially coined to reclaim the cultural and political dimensions of the neurodivergent experience, moving away from pathologization and deficit-based narratives found in widely used clinical texts like the DSM-V, so-called experts have co-opted the term. These medicalizing discourses and regulatory practices stem from the ideology of White supremacy, the settler colonial structure, and a capitalist system that bolsters the productive, neoliberal citizen archetype. Neurodivergent peoples' bodyminds disrupt this archetype and what it represents in terms of medicalizing discourses that separate ideal citizens from deficient ones. Feeling threatened, professionals-who reinforce this power relation by administering treatment and intervention-adopt harmful strategies, including separating neurodivergence from disability, to reclaim and legitimize their expertise. Our work examines how the concept of neurodiversity is used to mobilize these strategies and how they impact neurodivergent people seeking affirming care, resources, and community. Drawing from social media and other online resources, we use testimonios and storytelling to analyze the for-profit misappropriation and rebranding of neurodivergent liberatory practices. We then juxtapose these with examples of neurodivergent counter-narratives to illustrate creative forms of resilience. To close, we offer recommendations to professionals who intend to address and re-orient these practices toward harm reduction and, eventually, to support collective liberation. Community Brief Why is this topic important? Neurodiversity refers to the fact that all brains are created differently. People whose brains are different from the majority refer to themselves as neurodivergent and fight together to make decisions for themselves and celebrate their culture. These activists started meeting online in the 90s and created the Neurodiversity Movement. Now that more people are using the word Neurodiversity, we are concerned that many use it in ways that do not match the community's hopes for their lives. Instead, we recognize they are causing harm with negative messages that separate neurodivergence from disability. Another concern is that service professionals, like therapists and special educators, are using the word to show they are experts who can be trusted to provide care that respects neurodivergent people's hopes and needs. These claims can be dishonest and sometimes dangerous. Other professionals say that the Neurodiversity Movement is inauthentic and excludes most people, except for those wrongfully labeled "high functioning." This is untrue and harmful because aside from ignoring people's lived experiences of disability, it also divides members of a community working for similar goals. What is the purpose of this article? Committed to supporting neurodivergent people in various contexts, we introduce three ideas: <label>1.</label> how service professionals misuse neurodivergent grassroots perspectives; <label>2.</label> concerns about harms that come with unfair uses of neurodivergent practices; and <label>3.</label> recommendations for supporting authentic neurodivergent practices. Our research method uses story-telling and collective protest against practices that disregard what neurodivergent people know and claim about themselves. We highlight troublesome examples of people using neurodiversity online and on social media and we explain how these uses harm the community. What personal and professional perspectives did the authors bring? We are two disabled educators and disability studies scholars who are affected by sexism and racism but also hold privilege as people with degrees and a middle-class lifestyle. One of us is a brown neurodivergent woman living with chronic illness, and the other is a white, physically disabled woman and a wheelchair user. Following Disability Justice, we notice and act against negative ideas about race, socioeconomic status, citizenship, and other oppressive systems that affect disability communities. We recognize that the content of our work is limited to the United States, which excludes the large majority of the world's disabled population and their opinions about this work. What is already known about this topic? Neurodiversity means that all brains are wired differently and that not one brain is better or healthier. There is disagreement between service professionals, such as therapists and educators, parents, and neurodivergent activists, about this. While most professionals and parents believe neurodivergence is a problem to fix or a superpower to hone, many neurodivergent people affirm it as a disabled identity and a way of life associated with cultural and political practices and beliefs. Professionals and parents have had the upper hand in deciding what services, resources, education, and familial and community involvement are best for their children. This has resulted in an unbalanced power relationship and has disadvantaged neurodivergent people, their autonomy, and decision-making in all aspects of their lives. The Neurodiversity Movement has resisted ideas and practices that misrepresent their lived experiences. What do the authors recommend? We offer recommendations for addressing the problems described above: Within Organizations Neurodivergent Leadership: We recommend that professionals interested in supporting Neurodiversity act accordingly to require leadership or, at minimum, meaningful input from neurodivergent people. Caution of Charity: Often, disability is seen as a tragedy. This idea spreads through charity and uninvited "acts of kindness." It is important to know that this can make people feel like they are a problem and owe their well-being to this kindness. It is also important to remember that neurodivergent people are creative and bold in rejecting unsolicited "help." Teaching and Research Firsthand Experience: We ask educators to highlight neurodivergent people and their first-hand experiences (including language, identity, and symbols of choice) instead of looking to others who claim to be experts. Using first-hand experience promotes the autonomy of neurodivergent people in the community, helping professionals recognize the limits of textbook knowledge as it excludes neurodivergent experience. In learning these limits, professionals learn to value neurodivergent ideas and support the community's motto - Nothing About Us Without Us! - in their research, teaching, and service. How will these recommendations help autistic adults now or in the future? Neurodivergent leadership ensures communities' needs and goals are fulfilled according to their political beliefs and cultural practices. Self-affirming statements will support shifts in perspective and action against violence. Changes in professionals' engagement with neurodivergent communities improves practice and services, promoting affirmative care.
