Published on 12, July, 2020
Neurosplaining...By analogy with 'mansplaining', I guess; the act of telling a neurodivergent person how they experience their neurodivergence.
A new word for my vocabulary today, but wondered whether anyone else had heard it before.
I can't claim any credit for inventing this new lexical item here, but I like it and yes it does nicely sum up some rubbish we hear from others (sadly, often professionals as frequently as friends and family). I just came across it in a post on LinkedIn from a psychologist and neuroinclusion specialist. It's made my day. So, I thought I'd share.
My doctor neurosplains me every time he tells me I "suffer with autism". Or tells me he regrets that "he cannot cure my autism".
Has anyone neurosplained you recently?
I was once in a meeting at university shortly after I was diagnosed when I tried to explain what I struggled with. The people there weren't happy because they believed I was acting/ taking things differently since I got the diagnosis so they asked the student health and wellbeing person there if it was possible for autistic people to act the way I was. Cue a couple of minutes where I had to hear sentences such as "Sometimes the autistic person will..." and it was very uncomfortable for 1) to be spoken about like I wasn't there and that my autism was the only prevalent part of myself and 2) it was a neurotypical person who was enlightening the whole room to what an autistic person is like.
I hadn't heard of the term neurosplain until just now though.
Would have been the perfect moment for it. How rude of them.