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 suppose I don’t have anything to contrast my experiences with, but just because I have trouble conveying emotion and being emotionally-conveyed to, doesn’t mean I don’t feel the full range of emotion..
Mine wasn’t ND but they stuck to the script and weren’t pretending like they were something they weren’t.. which was nice because it was concise and clear..
Although I don't know what's worse. That or someone in the comments of a YouTube video suggesting I lied to a (then) friend about me being Autistic.
Actually I have a good doctor - when I told him I thought I was ND, he was great, listened, didn't patronize, asked questions- and agreed with me.
I recognize that mine may not be a typical experience, I'm lucky there.
‘Oh so you’ve got mild autism then..’
‘You don’t look autistic’
Quite rightly!
Not quite like this yet. I think if or perhaps when it happens I will get a bit cross!
‘I did a mental health first aider course!’
Yes, I’ve heard that one, another I had was,” you aren’t autistic, you just don’t like anyone.”
DeSpereaux said:Everyone’s a little autistic, so I know how you feel..’
That's the worst one...
Clearly not, on so many levels..
I hate that comment that is made by neurosplainers! I certainly feel emotions on a much more intense level than non autistic people. If I am really happy, I stim really loudly.
How do you experience emotions?
‘So what do you want?’
‘Everyone’s a little autistic, so I know how you feel..’
‘Oh so you don’t feel emotions..’
‘Autism is behavioural..’
I've had this I think the term I heard was "everyone's a little autistic"..
I had it neurosplained to me that everyone is on the spectrum! I haven’t really engaged with this person since.
You do sometimes in the corporate world get people giving lectures on how to make workplaces more welcoming for neuro diverse people. And it’s usually neuro diverse rather than autistic they don’t like to be too detailed. And they make a big sweeping statements as if they covered all cases usually about office noise as if almost all issues could be solved by putting people in the quiet corner with a set of headphones.
I do like to correct them at this point. To say that autism is primarily a social issue not a sensory one. I’m not belittling the sensory issues they can be quite serious, but beyond giving people a particular desk and not making a fuss when they use headphones there’s not a lot the average office can do about sensory issues. The social challenges that autistic people face in a typical corporate office are massive compared to that and require a lot more work on the part of the company to address.
I think I’m guilty of this because I drop into the 3rd-person when I speak, though I’m told that this is an indicator of autism, as I don’t consider the 1st-person in my recollections. It’s a nightmare in competency interviews..