Neurodiversity and mental health

It’s not surprising that living in a world which is not built for neurodivergent people can affect mental health. For many, neurodiversity’s impact on mental health begins at school. It’s hard to grow up feeling that you don’t fit in, and noticing that you find things more challenging than your peers do, or that you do them in a totally different way. Labels and stereotypes start to be thrown around – not academic, lazy, daydreamer – when in reality, there is just a need for different support or accommodations. It’s particularly hard if you went through school undiagnosed and had these experiences without knowing why or receiving any support. From an early age we are given the message that neurodivergence is a disadvantage or even an inconvenience, instead of highlighting that neurodivergent conditions come with a host of advantages and strengths such as creativity, determination, and problem-solving skills.

For those neurodivergent people who receive a diagnosis after school, it can be a relief, but it can also elicit more difficult feelings. It can be especially traumatic growing up thinking that something is wrong with you, not having the right support or accommodations and not understanding why you aren’t quite like your peers. It’s not unusual to feel anxiety about a new diagnosis and to be concerned about how other people will receive your diagnosis if you tell them, and how you will be treated. After a late diagnosis many people look back at their lives and feel resentful that their condition wasn’t spotted sooner, or even feel that they should have known themselves. It’s hard to reconcile with the fact that you may not have previously reached your full potential because you weren’t diagnosed until later in life. This can cause people to grieve ‘what could have been’.

Moving into work, neurodivergent people may experience what they did at school. Attitudes towards neurodivergence are carried on into the workplace and recruitment processes, and some people even expect that as an adult you’ll somehow have ‘grown out of’ your condition. Recruitment processes commonly put neurodivergent candidates at a disadvantage, which can be demoralising and frustrating. For many people, it’s damaging to their self-esteem to be trying their hardest and still not be getting the same results as the people around them. Additionally, anxiety about disclosing neurodivergent conditions to your workplace can be overwhelming, especially if there is a fear of being judged, viewed as less competent, or even losing your job. If conditions are not disclosed, there is no requirement to provide reasonable adjustments, the lack of which can be highly stressful and affect both physical and mental health. Even requesting and obtaining reasonable adjustments can be a stressful process when attitudes still wrongly exist that they are an inconvenience or confer an unfair advantage.