“MISSION:
By joining hands with our schools, professionals, and community, Neurodiverse Connections seeks to build an alliance that promotes understanding and respect for neurodiversity.

VISION:
We envision a world where every neurodivergent child grows up knowing that he, she, or they has value, exactly as they are, without needing to mask or change.”

That's great and everything, but what exactly IS Neurodiversity?

At the highest level, Neurodiversity is a social justice movement that sees brain differences like Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia and Tourette’s (among others) as a normal variation within the human genome, and therefore not bad or good, simply different. Merriam Webster’s Online Dictionary defines it as “The concept that differences in brain functioning within the human population are normal and that brain functioning that is not neurotypical should not be stigmatized.”

Read more about it HERE.

We are just getting started, but here are some of the THINGS WE BELIEVE:

  • We view behavior as communication, brain differences as natural and healthy human variation, and diagnoses as pathways to understanding, NOT flaws or labels.

  • We believe that through education, communication, and connection, neurodiverse children and adults will no longer be perceived as “other” but simply as people who think, learn, and communicate in diverse ways.

  • We know that while individuals with the same brain-type share common traits, expressions and experiences of these traits vary greatly person to person and moment to moment.

  • We recognize that brain differences can cause individual impairments, but believe that the level of community awareness affects the degree of disability experienced by its neurodivergent members.

  • While we acknowledge that brain science and medical research is evolving, we are impatient to adopt new diagnostic criteria accounting for the disparate expression of neurodiverse traits in underrepresented groups like girls & women, people of color, people with low incomes, and people who experience life outside of the gender binary.

  • We are determined to expand the understanding and awareness of the breadth of neurodiversity.

  • We believe that wider community understanding is a critical piece for neurodivergent individuals to be truly seen, heard and accepted.