The Difference Between Neurodiversity And Neurodivergent – And Why It's Crucial We Learn These Terms

Therapist Gee Eltringham shares a helpful analogy to tell the terms apart.

Parents editor at HuffPost UK

This article features advice from Gee Eltringham, a Bristol-based psychotherapist and founder of parental support platform for ADHD, twigged.

Neurodiversity Celebration Week begins on 16 March this year, with an aim to challenge stereotypes and misconceptions about neurological differences.

If you’ve not really come across the term ‘neurodiversity’ before, you might be left scratching your head over what exactly it means – especially as it’s very similar to ‘neurodivergent’. Some people might even use the two interchangeably.

But they are different, and SEN psychotherapist Gee Eltringham says it’s important we get these terms right for the sake of our kids “because labels are powerful”.

Here’s her breakdown of what they mean.

Neurodiversity: the whole flock

“Neurodiversity is the big-picture concept. It describes the natural variation in how human brains think, learn and process information,” says Eltringham.

Just like biodiversity refers to the variety of living things on........

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