So much damage is done by the idea that there is a majority of people for whom life is straightforward. The world was designed for them, they effortlessly comply with societal demands and get over their life stresses easily. They never wonder whether there is something different about them, or criticise themselves for minor failings. They sail through school and work. They have meaningful relationships with only transient conflict. Their emotions are manageable and in proportion. They are round pegs in round holes. The neurotypical Some people look like this from the outside. Hardly anyone reports being like this from the inside. Yet more and more books and training programmes promote the idea that if you’re not like this, you must be neurodivergent. Wired differently. We have pathologised the human condition.

I was writing a training day on adapting therapy for neurodivergent clients when I got stuck. The task was impossible, because neurodivergence is a category which can include gifted people, severely disabled people, people with serious mental health problems and anyone who feels that the world was not designed for them. Which is, in my experience, almost everyone. Because who out there feels that the world IS designed for them? I could think of no adaptation which would apply to all these people, but wasn’t just best practice for everyone. The term neurodivergence is so wide that it means nothing. It flattens important differences. And yet it’s all around us. Why?