“The Paradigm Shift Is Happening Without Them”: Interviews on Service Providers and Neurodiversity

The concept of neurodiversity poses a challenge to service providers, urging them to shift away from pathologizing frameworks and exclusionary notions of expertise. More research is needed on how to build upon the concept of neurodiversity to improve direct practice with neurodivergent individuals and communities. This paper presents findings from interviews with 60 differently positioned people in Southern Ontario, Canada, about how they used the concept and language of neurodiversity. While people varied in their specific experience and their understanding of who or what neurodiversity included, they all used the concept and language of neurodiversity to explain how they wanted systems and practices to change. Participants identified ways that providers fail to meet the needs of neurodivergent people and offered alternative suggestions for practice. Neurodivergent providers described bringing useful knowledge to their work but meeting barriers in their organizations. A tip sheet of practice guidelines is presented, and implications are discussed.