Interview w/ Judy Singer, coiner of term "neurodiversity"

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Many of us would concur that the term Neurodiversity is representative of the fact that differences in neurology should be recognized and respected as a social category, similar to ethnicity, socioeconomic class, sexual orientation, gender, or disability. But most don’t know that Judy Singer, an Australian sociologist, first used the term Neurodiversity in her sociology honors thesis in 1996-1998 (and formally presented the paper in 1998). US writer Harvey Blume, with whom Singer corresponded with about their mutual interest in Autism, further popularized the word in a 1998 issue of The Atlantic, stating, “Neurodiversity may be every bit as crucial for the human race as biodiversity is for life in general. Who can say what form of wiring will prove best at any given moment? Cybernetics and computer culture, for example, may favor a somewhat autistic cast of mind.”

Singer’s work on autism and neurodiversity became widely known as a result of her chapter “Why Can’t You be Normal for Once in Your Life?” based on her thesis which was published in the UK in 1999 (Disability Discourse, Mairian Corker Ed., Open University Press, February 1, 1999, p 64)).”

Please don't talk about Judy Singer. She's also the founder of a group called ASPar, which seeks to oppose autistic people from becoming parents.

Actually I’m the person who coined the term Neurodiversity, and prefigured the Neurodiversity movement, which came to pass. See http://www.wired.com/2013/04/neurodiversity/ or check it out on google. And I have enough Asperger’s traits and enough experience of bullying as a child to wear the label.

But I never intended my passion for rights for Neurodiverse populations to mean that everything neurodiverse was inherently good! How absurd. I intended Neurodiversity to mean that we need to see more clearly when not just other people’s behaviours but also our own are “hardwired” and respond appropriately. It’s a call for careful observation, acceptance and understanding of difference, but not a call for “anything goes”.

Neurodiversity is also a call for self-knowledge by Aspies. If you love to bury yourself in abstract thought, if you know you panic easily, have high anxiety levels, and don’t understand the social cues people are giving you, why would you even want to have children? Conversely, if you love being around kids, and know you have no aptitude for mathematics, why wouldn’t you rather be a school teacher, why would you even want to be a Maths Professor? It’s common sense, not some horrible eugenic plot