Are you a religious person? An atheist? Agnostic?
I consider myself to be agnostic. Mostly because I Don’t Know.
If I had to choose any belief system to attach to, I would be a Darwinist. Natural Selection is the best explanation of the meaning of life I am aware of. When I think about ‘why we are here’, I can’t help but recognize how life persists through time and changes with each generation.
In short, I believe Darwin best explained the purpose of life. Life begets mortal individuals that can reproduce and perpetuate, thus making a species near immortal. Individual life dies, but communal life persists. The chief mechanisms in this dance are DNA, sexual reproduction, and Natural Selection. I capture this argument in episodes about Sexual Selection and Love, Let’s Talk About Sex 1 and 2, the Uniqueness Imperative, and the Evolution Paradox.
In short, life perpetuates diversity to ensure we persist through environmental changes. The creation of diversity maximizes the probability for survival where ‘fitness’ results when biological characteristics work out when things change.
The purpose of this episode, and the future direction for my work, is how this applies to neurodiversity.
Sexual reproduction creates new individuals that are different from their parents. These individuals express those differences during their lives. Individuals deemed ‘fit’ for their environments will reproduce and continue the process.
My work applies diversity to our nervous systems. I define neurodiversity as genotypic (as in an individual’s DNA) and phenotypic (the physical expression of DNA) variation. To me, the nervous system is comprised of interacting parts that facilitate sensory interpretation of the environment. When we talk about neurodivergence in the form of autism, ADHD, OCD, and other conditions we are referring to the different ways our nervous systems work.
It should come as no surprise that a diversity of neurotypes is beneficial to survival. We’re supposed to be different in every way, including our nervous systems. Individual humans fall along a continuum — a spectrum if you will. It is true for height as well as sight. Diversity is key to survival. Not for individuals, but for species.
The bothersome thing is that as critical as diversity is, modern humans try very hard to be the same.
Pushing other humans into conformity is what’s wrong, not neurodivergence
Why would we all ‘work’ the same way? We are unique individuals. We are products of sexual reproduction, which ensures that we are similar, yet differ, from our parents.
I like to believe we used to be cool with this variation. We understood the value of diversity. We might not have known why, but we supported instead of rejected our differences.
The more we seek conformity, the more we notice neurodivergence. This matters. This needs to stop. My goal is to help change this BACK to how I think it used to be.
Accept that different is good. Stop trying to reduce it.
Neurotypes have different capacities for interacting with the world. Phenotypes. External stimuli are differentially intercepted and interpreted. Each one of us has a unique way of navigating the world. We can all benefit from these shared differences. But only if we embrace them.
We must learn to TRULY support diversity. The variation around the mean. The outliers. The outcasts. Diversity maximizes the fitness of the human species. We are doing each other a favor.
Like attracts like.
Normal is easy.
Tolerance is harder.
We need to do better.
Fly your freak flag.
I, for one, embrace this. I will stand and support you for your differences. I will meet you where you are. I will be ‘fit’ as an individual and contribute to the fitness of our species.
Podcast audio:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/530563/14177149
YouTube video:
I will be starting an extended interview series in 2024. If you have a connection to neurodivergence and want to share your story, please contact me at kpluseiswise@gmail.com