On Neurodivergence and Otherness:
A 48-Part Series
Show Table of Contents
INTRO
1. On Neurodivergence and Otherness: An Introduction
SENSES AND SENSORY SENSITIVITIES
2. Senses Count
3. Neurobiology for Dummies
4. Sensory Transmission and our Reward System
5. Sensory Receptors are the Body’s Cellular Plan
6. A Synthesis: Sensory Systems and our Emotions—Part I
7. A Synthesis: Sensory Systems and our Emotions—Part II
8. Sensory Disorders and Sensitivities
9. Etan’s Story
10. Synesthesia: Difference, But Not Disorder
11. Synesthesia, Creativity, Artistry—Part I
12. Synesthesia, Creativity, Artistry—Part II
AUTISM AND THE NEURODIVERSITY MOVEMENT
13. From “Mental Defectives” to Autism Spectrum Disorder
14. Changing Conception of Autism
15. Autism Diagnoses and Behavior Patterns
16. Autism Treatments that Help
17. Early Start Autism Treatment: A Case Study
18. Neurodivergence and the Neurodiversity Movement
19. Neurodiversity Takes Flight
ADHD
20. ADHD and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
21. ADHD: A Preponderance of Risk Factors and Symptoms
22. ADHD: Inattentive, Impulsive…and Hyperactive?
23. ADHD: Named, Renamed, Still Needs a New Name
24. ADHD: Treatment and Coping Skills for All Ages
LGBTQ+
25. Neurodiversity and the LGBTQ+ Fight
26. LGBTQ+ Identity and Expression
27. LGBTQ+ and Mental and Behavioral Healthcare
ON LANGUAGE
28. Language Matters In and Around Neurodiversity
29. Neurodivergent Language Difficulties
30. Disability-Inclusive Language Guidelines
ON CREATIVITY AND GIFTEDNESS
31. Neurodiversity and Creativity
32. Giftedness is a Piece of Neurodivergence
SELF-IDENTITY
33. Self-Identity: The Cornerstone of Neurodiversity
34. Early Theories of Self-Identity Formation
35. Contemporary Theories of Self-Identity Formation
36. Authenticity and the Search for Self
37. Self-Schemas and Neurodivergence
38. Self-Labeling and Parts Work
39. Complexity, Clarity, and Self
IMPROVING LIFE FOR NEURODIVERGENT PEOPLE
40. Empathy Recognizes and Navigates Difference
41. Reducing Neurotypical-on-Neuroatypical Conflict – Part I
42. Reducing Neurotypical-on-Neuroatypical Conflict – Part II
43. Communicating Across the Neurospectrum – Part I
44. Communicating Across the Neurospectrum – Part II
45. Neurodiversity: Advocacy and Education
46. Neuroinclusion in the Workplace
47. A Neurodiverse Lifestyle
IN CONCLUSION
48. In Conclusion: Neurodivergence and Inspiration
So far, I’ve written blog series on narcissism, bipolar disorder, and anxiety. I planned my next mental health topic to be treatment-resistant depression (TRD).
But after a particularly open conversation with my younger son Etan — who’s been diagnosed with ADHD, sensory integration issues, TRD, and anxiety — I decided to shift topics to neurodivergence and life among but apart from mainstream society.
As I talk about neurodivergence and the neurodiversity movement, I will also talk about my sons Jaden (also part of my series on bipolar) and Etan, whose words I’ll include when appropriate.
Jaden and Etan are neuroatypicals. I’m a neurotypical, introduced by my sons to the concepts of neurodivergence (the individual) and neurodiversity (the collective).
What I love about our conversations is they’re not about regret — despite their profound struggles to live their best lives — but of optimism, dreaming of goals they have set for themselves.
Etan described his life path as steppingstones in a river, with endless obstacles in the way. Steps forward and then relapse. Remission, regression, hope, despair, start again. Trying hard to live.
Jaden is studying to start a new career. He lives with his wife and dogs and other pets. He is definitely off the grid but has been stable for the past five years.
Etan is an artist/animator/designer, determined to set his own path, comfortable living in his skin. His plans don’t aim for the American dream and status symbols, but to live a simple, creative, peaceful life.
Let me describe a pivotal moment. Etan, his friend Lena, and I are sitting in my living room before my gas fireplace on a cold, damp spring evening.
Lena describes what it’s like for her at work — a cacophony of sounds, smells, and other sensory distractions that she contends with every day —when she and my son looked at one another and both burst out laughing, like they had a private joke. I had no idea what was funny.
Turns out, while Lena’s talking, Etan’s dog Max is drinking water in the kitchen, his metal tag clinking on the metal bowl with each noisy slurp. I’m solely focused on what Lena’s saying, oblivious to this rather loud clanking — my sensory muscle cuts out peripheral noise and keeps me attending the center.
But Etan and Lena’s attention is diverted to the periphery, and the center doesn’t hold. Then and there — besides laughing a lot about Max’s clamorous water consumption and the unplanned auditory demonstration of neuroatypical vs. neurotypical behavior — I decide then and there that this has to be my next mental health topic to explore.
Indeed, what else but neurodivergence could unite sensory overload, synesthesia, dyslexia, ADHD, bipolar disorder, OCD, borderline personality disorder (BPD), anxiety, and depression with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Tourette’s Syndrome, and Albert Einstein’s outsized IQ?
Starting with Our Senses
My anxiety blog began by looking at emotions — both primary (fear, sadness, happiness, disgust) and secondary (anxiety, shame, jealousy) — and how they’re distinctive, how they blend, and their vital role in adaptation from cavepeople to modern times. Emotions are the bedrock of our existence, but the dance they do inside our brains and bodies is as unique as it is complex.
Same for our senses. For most of us, we enter life prepared to see, hear, touch, smell, or taste — without instruction. Our senses were primed in utero, ready for the world within hours of birth. We take a little longer to develop other innate senses: to move, stay upright, feel something’s not right inside us, feel cold, feel hot, or cry in pain. A normal developing child can do this without guidance, though guidance moves it along.
Bearded dragons switch color to match the surroundings. Source: Australian Geographic
Starting with our senses makes sense. Sensory issues come into play with most neuroatypicals. First understanding how “normies” process sensation deepens understanding when it goes awry — when senses collide, behave weirdly, overwhelm, just don’t work, or create waves of physical, motor, cognitive, emotional, or psychological actions and reactions that veer off the “norm.”
Normal was created, not discovered, by flawed, eccentric, self-interested, racist, ableist, homophobic, sexist humans. Normal is a statistical fiction, nothing less. Knowing this is the first step toward reclaiming your power to define yourself, know yourself, and love yourself for who you are, not who you should be.
From Normal Sucks: How to Live, Learn, and Thrive, Outside the Lines, by Jonathan Mooney, Stimpunks Foundation
Neurodivergence is a welcome, necessary, and apt reframing of psychopathology, abnormality, and mental illness as conditions that must be reversed, corrected, or minimized so people with some impairment can be full members of society.
My adult sons and many in their lives are neurodivergent, but no longer are they trying to round peg themselves into square holes.
From my neurotypical vantage point, I’ve retro-fixed a neurodivergent label onto my late talented, disorganized artist husband, who would’ve been amused at the posthumous diagnoses by his non-medical wife.
Of course, the genes came from both of us — that’s why, like everything, these things exist on a spectrum. I may score high on executive function, but I can’t attend a long meeting without doodling all over my notes.
Whether typical or atypical, we must learn about neurodivergence so we’re better equipped to protect, support, empathize, and celebrate otherness.
For there’s much to celebrate and much to learn about ourselves in the process.
Putting more emphasis on the strengths of neurodivergent individuals will increase their wellbeing, reduce stigmatization, and, therefore, improve their quality of life, because creativity can be an outlet for emotions, a source of pride, or even a source of income. It also benefits society as a whole to move away from looking at the neurodevelopmental deficit model and move toward the neurodivergent perspective.
Oversensitivity and neurodiversity do not have to be an overwhelming liability. Recognition of the positive attributions of neurodiversity can be an asset when put to appropriate use.
Through recognition of these positive aspects of neurodiversity, we may be able to move further away from the negative aspects of a mental illness model and toward a more positive model of mental wellness. —Bruce Wilson, “Neurodiversity: A Wellness Paradox,” Psychology Today
Coming Up Next
The first posts in the series will be devoted to our sensory system. How our senses work, relate to thought and emotion, and why understanding our senses is foundational to understanding neurodivergence.
In Post 2: The Senses Count raise questions about how many senses we have (more than five). How millions of sensory receptors — triggered by external and internal stimuli — transform physical energy into electrical impulses (neurons).
How our bodies transmit neurons from the outer reaches of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) to the spine and brain that are the central nervous system (CNS).
How our brains interpret, organize, and make meaning of our chaotic world for us — all at the speed of light.
Copyright ©2026 Jan Swan
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