Where once the concepts ofneurodiversityandneurodivergencewere foreign to neurotypical people, in recent years, we’ve slowly begun to see increased awareness and acknowledgment that differences in how brains process and behave are, in fact, quite normal and common.
Neurodiversity, which includes those with specific learning differences (spLD) such as dyslexia, dyspraxia andattention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well asautism spectrum disorder (ASD), has come a long way in a short time; but do we as a society have enough awareness yet of this topic?
How has the pandemic lifestyle impacted neurodivergent people, from those accustomed to living with their diversity to the many for whom quarantine led to life-changing realizations? And how can we do better in supporting the neurodivergent people we live, work, and learn with? Let’s explore.
Meet the ExpertsRisa Williams, LMFT, is a licensed therapist, coach, and author of “The Ultimate Anxiety Toolkit” and “The Ultimate Time Management Toolkit.”Billy Roberts, LISW-S, is a licensed therapist who owns a private practice that focuses exclusively on adults with ADHD.Sharon O’Connor,LCSW, is an autistic psychotherapist who specializes in neurodiversity and anxiety.
Meet the Experts
Risa Williams, LMFT, is a licensed therapist, coach, and author of “The Ultimate Anxiety Toolkit” and “The Ultimate Time Management Toolkit.”Billy Roberts, LISW-S, is a licensed therapist who owns a private practice that focuses exclusively on adults with ADHD.Sharon O’Connor,LCSW, is an autistic psychotherapist who specializes in neurodiversity and anxiety.
Risa Williams, LMFT, is a licensed therapist, coach, and author of “The Ultimate Anxiety Toolkit” and “The Ultimate Time Management Toolkit.”
Billy Roberts, LISW-S, is a licensed therapist who owns a private practice that focuses exclusively on adults with ADHD.
Sharon O’Connor,LCSW, is an autistic psychotherapist who specializes in neurodiversity and anxiety.
Verywell / Bailey Mariner
The Pandemic as a Surprise Diagnostic Tool
When the world changed in March 2020, no one was unaffected. At lightning speed, we had to rework all of our day-to-day processes, from the most trivial of errands to the most important of career and family tasks.
In having to change so quickly and being forced to adapt to circumstances outside the scope of anything we had ever experienced before, many people were forced to reckon with an unexpected fact:their brains weren’t functioning and adapting in the same waysas others.
“There has been a lot of change to process in a short amount of time,” says Williams. “Since change can cause stress, sometimes this stress exacerbates ADHD symptoms and anxiety symptoms.”
Roberts tells us that because of the pandemic, “Many undiagnosed folks are connecting the dots for the first time,” noting that he has seen an increase in outreach from many neurodivergent folks, including individuals with ADHD and autism: “The pandemic created new organizational, emotional, and social demands on all people, which tends to highlight the challenges in both populations.”
Billy Roberts, LISW-SThere has been a lot of outreach from neurodivergent individuals seeking professional help for both first-time evaluation and treatment. For both the undiagnosed and diagnosed, the demands of the pandemic left many feeling like the coping skills they developed in life were ineffective.
Billy Roberts, LISW-S
There has been a lot of outreach from neurodivergent individuals seeking professional help for both first-time evaluation and treatment. For both the undiagnosed and diagnosed, the demands of the pandemic left many feeling like the coping skills they developed in life were ineffective.
Neurodivergent women and people assigned female at birth are often misunderstood and less likely to be diagnosed, as medical doctors and mental health professionals often miss their symptoms.
Because quarantine centered so much around taking everything virtual that could go there, the world of telehealth advanced in important ways—people who may have been unable to find an appropriate practitioner suddenly had more to choose from.
O’Connor explains, “The expansion of telehealth has made therapy much more accessible to neurodivergent folks. The ability to meet with a therapist remotely eliminates the barrier and stressor of traveling to an office.”
“It has also widened the network of accessible providers, as one is no longer limited to a therapist in their immediate geographic area,” she adds. “Telehealthpresents a new opportunity to choose from therapists anywhere in your state, which can increase the chances offinding a provider who meets your needs.”
According to these therapists, this flexibility led to more people than ever before learning about their own neurodiversity.
How to Deal With COVID Anxiety Syndrome
Self-Care and Other Superpowers
One of the biggest elements of neurodiversity as a movement is that it seeks to promote understanding that there are plenty of upsides to brains working differently. While we had previously thought of neurodivergent traits as “illnesses” or “diseases,” the movement seeks to help people understand that these conditions come with equally important benefits. Many of these benefits were highlighted in the pandemic.
Syuzanna Guseynova / Getty Images
Roberts says that “While cognitive deficits might feel like a struggle, for many, they can and are superpowers. For instance, adults with ADHD can be incredibly creative and entrepreneurial. The pandemic forced many people to be creative and innovative. While those with cognitive deficits found challenges, many also utilized their strengths to create and innovate.”
Numerous personality traits associated with neurodivergent conditions may have provided a more positive experience than one would otherwise anticipate. For example, people with autism often have great attention to detail and strong focus skills. Many neurotypical workers expressed extreme frustration and difficulty with the ability to focus on work in a home environment.
“For some autistic and neurodivergent folks, the pandemic has offered a much-needed respite from the social demands of previous life, which has allowed them to recover from burnout and truly flourish,” explains O’Connor. “This time has given many neurodivergent people the opportunity to better understand their own needs, make adjustments to meet those needs, and then choose to carry forth those practices into post-pandemic life consciously.”
Social media also helped spread awareness of neurodiversity, as neurodivergent people became inspired to share how they were coping. Williams tells us, “Many people used quarantine as a way to figure out more self-care practices, and as a result, many people were posting about their experience…across many different platforms.”
The Strengths of People With ADHD
How to Be a Better Ally
Now that we have a stronger understanding of how the pandemic led to more diagnosis of neurodivergence, more treatment options thanks to telehealth, and that more people than ever are discovering that they, too, are neurodivergent, where do we go from here? We asked the therapists for their opinions on what work still needs to be done to promote awareness of neurodiversity and better support those in our lives who are neurodivergent.
For Roberts, the biggest change that needs to occur is on a policy level. He says that the system “needs to change and make neurodiverse policies and practices a priority.”
“This includes schools,workplace environments, and even within mental health care,” he adds. “The top priority would be to address policies that don’t normalize cognitive differences or that don’t utilize the strengths of neurodivergent people.”
But why were those policies the default in the first place?
“I think much of the struggle also speaks to theimpact of ableismwithin the employment system and the lack of access to care within mental health care itself,” he answers.
When looking to provide more support for neurodivergent people, this shift makes sense as the most important one: We need to alter the policies that center neurotypical people as “normal,” and leave neurodivergent people out of the equation.
Williams feels that the first step to these needed changes begins with more discussion around mental health and wellness at large. She notes, “In our society, we need to prioritize andtalk about mental healthmore, and make self-care more important in our everyday lives.” This can begin as simply as with conversation around how everyone is doing.
Risa Williams, LMFTI think the more we can normalize how people are feeling during this pandemic and how it has impacted peoples’ emotional states, the more we can start to figure out ways to take steps to de-stress on a more regular basis and see it as important to our well-being.
Risa Williams, LMFT
I think the more we can normalize how people are feeling during this pandemic and how it has impacted peoples’ emotional states, the more we can start to figure out ways to take steps to de-stress on a more regular basis and see it as important to our well-being.
“When it comes to access to care, allies of neurodivergent people can help ensure that an appropriate practitioner is accessible to everyone who needs one. O’Connor is working on this in ways such as penning “How to Find a Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapist,” which seeks to pair patients with therapists who will be equipped to give them precisely the type of care and assistance they need and deserve.
What Does It Mean For a Therapist to Be Neurodiversity-Affirming?
We will make the biggest strides in supporting neurodiverse people when we stop seeing them through the lens of being neurotypical as a norm or the default way to be. In the same way, asheteronormativitytreats being cisgender and heterosexual as a norm and any other gender and/or sexual identity as abnormal in comparison, the neurotypical lens is equally harmful to people who don’t fit into that category.
Systemic change is needed, but even taking easy, small steps like educating ourselves with books, podcasts, and social accounts of neurodivergent people seeks to make neurotypical people better allies. The more aware we are of the differences between us, the better we can celebrate them, and the more we can factor them into everything—from how school classes are taught to how we socialize.
What to Know About Raising Neurodivergent Kids
Benefitting From Neurodivergent Pandemic Practices
The coping mechanisms that neurodivergent people have employed can benefit everyone, regardless of how their brain works. Here are a few examples.
The information in this article is current as of the date listed, which means newer information may be available when you read this. For the most recent updates on COVID-19, visit ourcoronavirus news page.
The Neurodivergent Guide to Socializing
1 SourceVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Mowlem FD, Rosenqvist MA, Martin J, Lichtenstein P, Asherson P, Larsson H.Sex differences in predicting ADHD clinical diagnosis and pharmacological treatment.Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2019;28(4):481-489. doi:10.1007/s00787-018-1211-3
1 Source
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Mowlem FD, Rosenqvist MA, Martin J, Lichtenstein P, Asherson P, Larsson H.Sex differences in predicting ADHD clinical diagnosis and pharmacological treatment.Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2019;28(4):481-489. doi:10.1007/s00787-018-1211-3
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Mowlem FD, Rosenqvist MA, Martin J, Lichtenstein P, Asherson P, Larsson H.Sex differences in predicting ADHD clinical diagnosis and pharmacological treatment.Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2019;28(4):481-489. doi:10.1007/s00787-018-1211-3
Meet Our Review Board
Share Feedback
Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit
Was this page helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!
What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit
What is your feedback?
