Entanglements and Absences: Mental Health in Narratives of Neurodiversity

This commentary discusses the relationship between neurodiversity and mental health across twelve narratives shared by people with lived experiences of neurodivergence, mainly autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Many authors in this symposium describe the psychological distress they endure as the product of ableism against neurodivergent people, calling us to reflect upon the entangled nature of neurodevelopmental conditions and mental health conditions. Absent in this issue are stories of people whose sole or primary experience of neurodivergence is a mental health condition like bipolar or schizophrenia, and I reflect here on what such missing narratives could teach us about neurodiversity, mental health, and disability.