Occupational Therapist Guy shares what neurodiversity means to him

“I view neurodiversity as being part of the variety of what it means to be human. I specifically use the word variety because I don’t think “difference” feels quite right, it could be interpreted as having a negative connotation. Whereas, I have always viewed variety as being a positive and good thing. Variety means lots of fun and exciting things, “variety pack” cereals were always my favourite as a child and I have happy memories of watching the Royal “Variety” Performance with my Nana. That there is variety in how people may they experience, think, learn and interact with the world can only be a good thing and is one that should be embraced and nurtured. It is what enables us to progress and do and discover new things. This variety can mean that people are “different”, but these differences don’t need to be fixed, they just need to be thought about in other ways. The Corn Flakes and the Frosties in the variety pack were different but just as good each other, you just put less milk on the Corn Flakes so they stay crunchy and more milk on the Frosties so you had sugary milk to drink at the end! Neurodiversity brings more variety into the world, and this is such a positive, as the saying goes “variety is the spice of life!” (Although not too spicy for some who are neurodivergent!)”