Neurodiversity was coined in the 1990s, by sociologist Judy Singer to explain the natural variation that could be seen across all human beings. It became the basis of a social movement to position variations in cognitive functioning as a natural element of humanity, in direct contrast to commonly used deficit-based interpretations.![outlines of two bodies. The first body illustrates a deficit viewpoint where the disability is an internal characteristic of the student. The second body outline illustrates a difference viewpoint whereby the disability is in the inaccessibility of the tools available to the student.](/Images/college-social-sciences-only/education/research/difference-v-deficit.png)
The term neurodiversity is sometimes used to refer to a small group of people with different cognitive functioning, in direct contrast to the proposed ‘neurotypical’ person. However, this is inaccurately. There is no neurotypical person, in much the same way as there is no biotypical element of biodiversity (Singer, 2020).![A List of Neurodiversity definitions. Neurodiversity is a noun representing the diversity of variation of cognitive functioning in people. Everyone has a unique brain and therefore different skills, abilities and needs. Neurodiverse is defined as an adjective, describing the diversity and variation of cognitive functioning in people. Neurodiverse is typically used to describe neurodivergent people. Neurodivergence is a noun used to represent a cognitive functioning which is not considered typical. Neurodivergent is an adjective describing people who have a neurodivergence.](/Images/college-social-sciences-only/education/research/definitions.png)
Neurodivergence therefore is the noun used to refer to a wide group of individuals whose cognitive functioning is perceived as different from the Predominant neurotype (PNT).
This is a growing area of research, and as such there is no agreed definition of which conditions fit within the neurodivergence umbrella. But as it specifically relates to cognition, it is generally understood that it should include conditions that allow the individual to think differently, or process information differently to the perceived ‘norm’.