Читать книгу Diversity, Equity & Inclusion For Dummies - Dr. Shirley Davis - Страница 30

The concept of neurodiversity is newer in the DEI space but not the medical and social science fields. Neurodiversity is a term that was introduced in 1998 by an autistic sociologist named Judy Singer. It comes from a number of brain studies that reveal that people who think, learn, and process information differently than others have brains that are wired that way. Advocates seek to set the record straight that people who are neurodiverse are not suffering from a disease or dysfunction. Rather, the idea is that people should expand their understanding of what’s “normal” in terms of brain function — that many things that have been considered problems are actually just differences.

Neurodiversity is important for the workplace because often those who are considered neurodiverse fall under the disability umbrella; however, John Elder Robison, a neuroscience scholar in residence at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia stated that “neurodiversity is the idea that neurological differences like autism and ADHD are the result of normal, natural variation within the human genome.” Neurodiverse people’s brains function outside the average brain and have the ability to hyper-focus, which is beneficial in certain job categories and industries.