Does Bipolar Belong in the Neurodiverse Realm?
Neurodiversity promotes sensitive language. This website and its connected Facebook and X accounts have been careful to use person-first language rather than identity-first language. We say people with bipolar disorder rather than bipolar people. We’re not ashamed of our disorder, but we don’t want to be defined by it. Research shows that neuro-normal people are less likely to discriminate when exposed to person-first language.
Coining the Term "Neurodiversity"
Australian sociologist Judy Singer coined the term “neurodiversity” in 1999 in the context of autism, specifically Asperger’s Syndrome. Singer noticed that her daughter had struggled with the same social situations that her mother had. Later, Singer would say that she herself probably falls somewhere on the autism spectrum.
Singer only used the word in trying to educate people about the concept of high-functioning autism. It took a while, but neurodiversity became a basis for the disability rights movement. In 2014 the term morphed into the idea that all brains are unique, and their diversity, like any other diversity, is something to be celebrated. Conditions such as autism, ADHD, and dyslexia are not pathological, but they’re part of the natural spectrum of human diversity.
Where Does That Leave Bipolar?
Where does that leave bipolar disorder? Certainly, many people with bipolar disorder are creative and prolific. That gives them something to be celebrated. Overlapping symptoms with autism and ADHD are common. Bipolar involves atypical brain functioning and neurotransmitter imbalance.
But not everyone in the neurodiverse community embraces bipolar disorder. Bipolar’s episodic nature and often late onset makes it different from the other disorders. Bipolar is a mood disorder that is considered a mental illness. Autism, ADHD, and dyslexia are neurodevelopmental disabilities. Maybe the neurodiverse community wants nothing to do with a mental illness. That does nothing to end the mental illness stigma.