Neurodiversity was first spoken by Judy Singer in 1997 – “Why can’t you act normal for once in your life!” (Singer 2016) Neurodiversity now includes autism, ADHD, dyspraxia, dyslexia and other diagnoses.

Neurodiversity, though is a political description and category. This means that it exists independently of the medical model. Where autism is categorized as a disability of social communication, we can now look at the social model of disability, and understand that any miscommunication is mutually socially constructed.This is not the fault or the inadequacy of the autistic person, it is what Damian Milton calls “The double-empathy problem”. (Milton 2012) In recent work, Damian Milton has published ‘The Double Empathy Reader (2025)‘ fast becoming essential reading

We can also look to the cultural model of disability (Devlieger 2016) to advocate for our right of inclusion and to the affirmative model (Cameron et al 2003)to celebrate our uniqueness within the assemblage.

Monotropism (Murray et al 2005) is described as the difference between looking through a telescope to standing beside a bright window. To go beyond the visual metaphor, the contrast of perceptual preferences shows us lot about how different neurotypes function psychologically. Autistic perception can be conceptualised as an attentional tunnel (using monotropism) and understood by interpreting what is or isn’t salient to the interest stream of intense focus.

Above all, we can challenge the pressure to mask and ‘be normal’. By questioning the assumptions that are made about autism, we can educate general opinion of who we are and how we communicate. We can articulate what our needs are and discover how we can best contribute to social sustainability.