Neuro-Affirming Glossary: Autism and Neurodiversity Words A to Z

When your child is identified as Autistic, ADHD or PDA, or you begin to wonder about yourself, you walk into a new language overnight. Professionals have to keep up with it too, and get it right in reports and meetings. This glossary is the everyday vocabulary, written plainly from lived experience as an Autistic ADHD adult and parent and twenty years in SEND teaching, and it is neurodiversity-affirming all the way through: nothing here is a deficit. It began as a glossary for The PDA Space Summit in 2023 and has grown since.

This is the Updated 2026 glossary: 191 words and terms, each with its icon from the book. Where there is one, a term links to the guide on this site that goes deeper, and to the same word in the Stimpunks glossary, the biggest shared vocabulary made by neurodivergent people, which I helped to build. For the words of theory and philosophy that More Realms is written in, see its Glossary.

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191 square cards, one for every word and term in the book, each with its icon, for teaching, training, reflection and family conversations. Two PDFs for screens (A to N and N to Z) and a print version with 4 cards per A4 page.

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The glossary, A to Z

A

Ableism

Discrimination experienced by people who are disabled in favour of those who are more able.

Access intimacy

The ease and relief felt when someone simply understands your access needs, without you having to explain or justify them. Named by disability justice writer Mia Mingus.

Access Intimacy in the Stimpunks glossary

Accessibility

The extent to which a place, service or activity can be reached, used and enjoyed by disabled people. Good accessibility is built in from the start, not added later as a favour.

Accessibility in the Stimpunks glossary

Accommodation

A change to the environment, task or expectations so that a person can take part on equal terms. In UK law these are called reasonable adjustments. The environment changes, not the person.

Accommodation in the Stimpunks glossary

#ActuallyAutistic

A hashtag and community marker showing that something was made by Autistic people themselves, rather than about them by parents or professionals. It grew as a response to Autistic voices being talked over.

ActuallyAutistic in the Stimpunks glossary

ADHD

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder – a difference in neurology affecting attention, thinking, processing and impulse.

Affective injustice

When a person’s emotions are dismissed, policed or treated as wrong because of who they are. Autistic distress is often read as ‘behaviour’ rather than a reasonable response to an unfair situation.

Agency

The capacity for people to make their own choices safely.

Alexithymia

Difficulties identifying, understanding and expressing your emotions or those of others.

Allistic

A person who is not Autistic. An allistic person may still be neurodivergent in other ways (for example ADHD or dyslexic), so ‘allistic’ is not the same as ‘neurotypical’.

Allistic in the Stimpunks glossary

Alt text

A short written description of an image so that people using screen readers, or who cannot see the image, still get its meaning. A small act of everyday accessibility.

Alt Text in the Stimpunks glossary

Alternative and augmentative communication (AAC)

Any way of communicating that adds to or replaces speech, such as letterboards, picture symbols, sign, typing or speech-generating devices. All communication is valid; AAC is not a last resort.

Anarchism

A political tradition that questions imposed hierarchy and favours free association, mutual aid and shared decision-making. Many neurodivergent communities draw on these ideas when they organise around care rather than control.

Anarchism in the Stimpunks glossary

Aphantasia

An inability or difficulty to visualise mental images.

Aphantasia in the Stimpunks glossary

Apraxia

Difficulties with motor planning (e.g., gross motor movements to walk / sit and also apraxia of speech).

ARFID

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, where eating is limited by sensory sensitivity, fear of choking or being sick, or low interest in food, rather than by body image. It is common in Autistic people and needs sensory-informed, not pressured, support.

AuDHD

Used as a label or identity for people who are both Autistic and ADHD.

Autism

There is no single definition of ‘autism’, and seeking to define it as a ‘thing’ is what the medical model and pathology paradigm aims to do. Instead, it can be much more helpful and accurate to focus on what ‘being Autistic’ means to each person. This might include: social interaction, communication and sensory and cognitive processing. There is no single way to ‘be Autistic’ as there is no single way to ‘be human’.

Autistic embodiment

To be Autistic and in tune with yourself and your own Autistic needs.

Embodiment in the Stimpunks glossary

Autistic joy

A feeling of intense happiness experienced by Autistic people often linked to their passions or sensory experiences and connecting with others who they relate to.

Autistic overload / overwhelm (may be called meltdown/shutdown)

An external response to stress /sensory / social/ communication overload which may result in a person being unable to communicate, engage in activities or complete executive functioning tasks; senses may be heightened or lowered.

Autistic perception

A positive reframing of the current deficit-based view of Autism valuing a person’s unique way of perceiving and experiencing the world.

Autistic rhizome

David Gray-Hammond’s (2023) image of Autistic community as a spreading, non-hierarchical network with no single centre or leader, where connections grow sideways and new groups form freely.

Autonomy

The ability to make your own decisions and act on them without external control.

B

Behaviourism

A theory of learning that looks only at what can be seen and measured, using rewards and consequences to shape behaviour. It underpins ABA and many school behaviour policies, and ignores the needs and inner experience driving the behaviour.

Belonging

Feeling understood, accepted and valued as you are, without having to perform or explain yourself. Belonging is not the same as being included on condition that you fit in.

Body Doubling

A strategy used by many neurodivergent people to help maintain focus, flow and give gentle accountability. It involves a person playing or working alongside another at the same or a different task (online or in person).

Body scan

Slowly bringing attention to each part of the body in turn to notice sensations such as tension, hunger or pain. A gentle way to build interoception. Some people find it calming, others uncomfortable, and both are fine.

Body Scan in the Stimpunks glossary

Bodymind

One word for body and mind together, used because they cannot really be separated (Ken Dychtwald, 1977). What happens in one affects the other, so sensory, emotional and physical needs are all part of the same whole.

Burnout

A period of intense sensory, social, emotional and physical overwhelm which results in profound exhaustion and difficulties with executive functioning, memory, attention. Burnout impacts energy levels and results in having less resources to regulate sensory input and other external demands. Acute burnout is often the result and accumulation of long periods of unmet needs, masking and a lack of capacity to manage demands. Autistic burnout can lead to anxiety, depression and other mental health difficulties. (More info here: www.autisticrealms.com/guides/burnout/)

C

Cavendish space

A space designed so that people who are easily overwhelmed can feel safe and do their best thinking, with low sensory load, quiet, choice and no forced interaction. Named by Stimpunks after the scientist Henry Cavendish.

Caves, campfires and watering holes

Three kinds of learning space described by David Thornburg. Caves for quiet solo work, campfires for listening to someone share, and watering holes for informal exchange. Good environments offer all three and let people choose.

Caves, Campfires, and Watering Holes in the Stimpunks glossary

Challenging behaviour

A deficit term often used to describe the result of unmet needs and great distress.

Chosen family

The people you choose to be close to and rely on, whether or not you are related. For many neurodivergent and queer people, chosen family provides the acceptance that birth family could not.

Chosen Family in the Stimpunks glossary

Co-regulation

An embodied presence of togetherness; being with people in a meaningful way helps balance and recharge the sensory system and bodymind. Co-regulation needs trust as a foundation stone. You can’t co-regulate if there is a battle of power dynamics; co-regulating is about being together as humans and connecting at a deeper level, as equals.

Cognitive liberty

The right to think, feel and experience the world in your own way, and to decide what happens to your own mind, including the right to refuse interventions aimed at making you more ‘normal’.

Cognitive Liberty in the Stimpunks glossary

Community

People connected by shared experience, identity or purpose who look out for one another. For many Autistic people, finding Autistic community is the first time they feel understood.

Competency network

The web of people, tools and supports that lets any of us do what we do. Nobody is competent alone. Recognising this makes it easier to ask for and offer support without shame.

Competency Network in the Stimpunks glossary

Connection

A felt sense of being seen, safe and in tune with another person. Autistic connection may look different (parallel play, shared passions, quiet company) and is just as real.

Created serendipity

Setting up the conditions for happy accidents, such as open time, shared spaces and loose structure, so that useful discoveries and meetings can happen on their own.

Created Serendipity in the Stimpunks glossary

D

Disability

Being disabled is not a flaw in a person. People are disabled by barriers in environments, attitudes and systems (see the social model of disability). Many Autistic people are disabled, and ‘disabled’ is not a bad word: it is an identity, a community and a protected characteristic that opens the door to rights and support.

Disabled in the Stimpunks glossary

Disability justice

A framework built by disabled people of colour and queer disabled people (including Sins Invalid) that goes beyond rights and access to ask who is still left out. It values interdependence, collective care and the leadership of those most affected.

Double Empathy Problem

A concept developed by Damian Milton (2012) that explains the differences in communication and socialisation between Autistic and non-Autistic people. Rather than the previous assumption that Autistic people have no empathy and lack social skills, this concept explains that it is the difference between Autistic and non-Autistic people’s way of communicating and socialising that can cause misunderstandings. Autistic people can, and do communicate well with other Autistic people in their own way. The emphasis is not just on Autistic people to change their communication to be understood by non-Autistic people, rather this goes both ways. The Double Empathy Problem is not restricted to Autistic and non-Autistic people it reflects the difficulties that arise between any differences of lived experience between people (eg race, age, gender).
More: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09687599.2012.710008

Dyscalculia

Difficulties related to understanding numbers and difficulties with maths.

Dysgraphia

Difficulties with writing skills, letter formation, can affect spelling and word choice (other fine motor skills may be fine).

Dyslexia

A specific learning disability that means you have significant difficulties with reading, writing and spelling.

Dyslexia in the Stimpunks glossary

Dyspraxia

Differences with balance and coordination, which can also affect the planning and processing of movement. Also called developmental coordination disorder.

Dyspraxia in the Stimpunks glossary

E

Echolalia

Repetition of echoing words / sounds back to someone or self.

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS)

A group of inherited conditions that affect the joints and connective tissues.

Empire of normality

Robert Chapman’s (2023) term for the way capitalism defines a narrow ‘normal’ mind and body, and treats everything else as a problem to fix or a cost to manage.

Empire of Normality in the Stimpunks glossary

Energy accounting

Energy accounting is about keeping track of how much energy you have and how much energy different tasks and stressors will use up. Many people like the idea of Miserandino’s Spoon Theory to support energy accounting.
More: butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory

Epistemic injustice

Being wronged as a knower (Miranda Fricker, 2007). It covers being disbelieved because of who you are, and lacking the shared words to make sense of your own experience. Autistic people face both.

Epistemic pluralism

Accepting that there are many valid ways of knowing and making sense of the world, not just one. Autistic ways of thinking count as knowledge, not as errors.

Epistemic Pluralism in the Stimpunks glossary

Equity

Giving people what they each need to take part fully, which is not the same as giving everyone the same thing. Equality is one size for all; equity fits the support to the person.

Equity in the Stimpunks glossary

Ethodivergence

Ways of being and behaving that depart from what is expected of a species, a culture or a group (Ombre Tarragnat, 2025). It widens neurodivergence from the mind to the whole way a creature lives.

Ethodiversity

The natural variety of ways of behaving and living among humans and other animals (Ombre Tarragnat, 2025), in the same way that neurodiversity is the natural variety of minds.

Executive functioning

Skills that include the ability to manage yourself, multitask, plan, organise and carry out tasks to achieve an intended outcome, these can be impacted by other demands, energy, capacity and flow.

F

Fawn

A stress response alongside fight, flight and freeze (Pete Walker), where a person tries to stay safe by pleasing, appeasing and going along with others. Masking is often a form of fawning.

Fawn in the Stimpunks glossary

Flow states

A deep immersive state of sensory or cognitive engagement, often linked to monotropism. However, everyone benefits from positive flow states to help them regulate and focus. Some flow states may not always be positive and can be distressing loops of ruminating thoughts.

Functioning labels

Calling someone ‘high functioning’ or ‘low functioning’. The Autistic community rejects these labels because they hide support needs in some people and dismiss strengths and autonomy in others. Needs change with the day and the environment.

Functioning Labels in the Stimpunks glossary

G

Gestalt language processing

Learning language in whole chunks, a line from a film or a phrase an adult uses, before breaking it into single words. Many Autistic children learn to talk this way. Echolalia and scripting are part of it, not a sign of ‘no communication’.

Glimmers

The opposite of triggers, moments, things and experiences that bring joy, a smile and offer a ray of hope in a day.

H

Hearing voices

Hearing voices that others do not. The Hearing Voices movement treats this as a meaningful human experience to be understood and lived with, not only a symptom to be silenced.

Hearing Voices in the Stimpunks glossary

Hyperfocus

Attention locked all the way into one thing for hours. In monotropic terms it is the attention tunnel at full depth. It can be joyful and restorative, or exhausting when anxiety drives it.

Hyperlexia

Deep fascination with letters and words, accompanied by reading far earlier than peers. Reading skills may far exceed comprehension skills.

Hyperlexia in the Stimpunks glossary

Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder (HSD)

A group of conditions related to joint hypermobility (JH).

Hypersensitivity

A more intense / heightened response to sensory stimuli, to the point it could feel very uncomfortable or even painful (e.g., light / sound / taste / touch /smell / movement/pain).

Hyposensitivity

A lower response to sensory stimuli, may be unaware of pain or not as responsive as you may expect (e.g., light / sound / taste / touch /smell / movement/pain).

I

Identity first language

This means putting a person’s identity first. For example, using identity first language, you would use the term ‘Autistic person’ (not ‘person with Autism’ which is person first language). Identity first language is often considered preferable in the Autistic community, but it is always good to ask someone how they prefer to identify and respect their choice.

Imposter syndrome

Feeling like a fraud who will be found out, despite evidence of ability. It is common in people who have spent years being told that their way of doing things is wrong.

Infodumping

A term often used to describe an Autistic person sharing their deep knowledge and enthusiasm of their special interests, often involving communicating on a single topic for long periods of time.

Intensive interaction

An approach to connecting with people who communicate without words, by joining in with their sounds, movements and rhythms and letting them lead. It builds trust and communication on their terms.

Interdependence

Mutual dependence that may be sensory, cognitive, or social. All humans are interdependent. Interdependence is valid and it is not always appropriate to strive for independence.

Interdependence in the Stimpunks glossary

Internalised ableism

Turning society’s messages about disability inward and believing you are lazy, broken or too much. Masking teaches it. Unmasking, community and being understood slowly undo it.

Interoception

Relates to a person’s ability to understand and interpret internal body signals and sensations. If you have difficulties with interoceptive awareness then you may not understand your body signals to know if you are hungry, thirsty, hot, cold, tired, need the toilet or if you are in pain. (further info: see work of Kelly Mahler)
More: www.kelly-mahler.com

Intersectionality

Coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989), the term intersectionality conceptualises how an individual’s various identities ‘intersect’ to create unique experiences of oppression or privilege and power eg race/ age/ sex/ gender/ disability.

Intrinsic motivation

Doing something because it matters to you or interests you, not for a reward or to avoid a consequence. Autistic learning and passions run on intrinsic motivation; reward charts can kill it.

Intrinsic Motivation in the Stimpunks glossary

K

Kinetic cognitive style

Nick Walker’s alternative name for ADHD, describing a mind that works best in motion, with attention that moves fast and finds patterns across subjects, rather than a deficit of attention.

Kinetic Cognitive Style in the Stimpunks glossary

L

Learning Disabilities

Cognitive/ intellectual disabilities that mean a person may need more support to understand and interpret information, have difficulties learning specific skills, expressing themselves, and/or performing daily living tasks.

Limerence

An intense, involuntary preoccupation with another person and a longing for them to feel the same (Dorothy Tennov). It can be overwhelming for people who feel things deeply and may be mistaken for a special interest.

Low demand

A style of interaction (parenting or professional) where you intentionally decrease demands and try to provide an environment that will help reduce stress and anxiety (this includes a low demand use of language and ways of interacting).

M

Masking

The act of consciously or unconsciously suppressing one’s authentic Autistic identity and needs in an attempt to fit into the social norms of the people around you. Over a long period of time masking is detrimental to mental health. It is important to acknowledge that many Autistic people have to mask for safety for lots of reasons in many situations. Unmasking is not always an easy or safe option.

Meerkat mode

A state of heightened alertness and scanning for threat, standing watch like a meerkat, often seen in PDA Autistic people when demands or uncertainty build up. A nervous system response, not defiance (Tanya Adkin, 2023).

Meltdowns

State of high distress caused by Autistic people not having enough capacity to manage, often due to unmet needs in environment, which may result in an Autistic person needing an outlet to help them regulate again. Meltdowns are an external expression of a shutdown.

Meltdown in the Stimpunks glossary

Minority stress

The extra, ongoing stress of living as a stigmatised minority: expecting rejection, hiding who you are and dealing with discrimination (Meyer, 2003). It helps explain the high rates of anxiety and depression among Autistic people, which are not caused by autism itself.

Misophonia

A hyper sensitivity to sound stimuli (e.g., hearing someone eating may feel painful).

Monotropic inertia

The difficulty of starting, stopping or switching when attention is deeply pulled into one thing. Getting going can be as hard as letting go.

Monotropic spiral

When an attention tunnel feeds on itself, looping round the same thoughts or worries with growing intensity until it is hard to climb out (Tanya Adkin, 2023). Rest, movement or a trusted person can help break the loop.

Monotropic split

The strain of being forced to hold attention in more than one place at once, as monotropic people often are at school and work. Over time it drains energy and leads towards burnout (Tanya Adkin, 2023).

Monotropic Time

When an Autistic/ADHD/AuDHD person is engaged in a deep flow state and loses sense of neuro-normative time.

Monotropism

A neuro-affirming theory of Autism. Autistic /ADHD/ AuDHD people are more likely to be monotropic (Garau et al., 2023). “Monotropic people have an interest-based nervous system. This means they focus more of their attention resources on fewer things at any one time compared to other people who may be polytropic. Things outside an attention tunnel may get missed, and moving between attention tunnels can be difficult and take a lot of energy. Monotropism can have a positive and negative impact on sensory, social and communication needs depending on the environment, support provided and how a person manages their mind and body”. (Community Definition of Monotropism collated by Helen Edgar, 2024) (For further information see: Monotropism.org & Monotropism Resources & signposting on Autistic Realms)

Mutual aid

People in a community meeting one another’s needs directly, giving and receiving as equals, rather than waiting on charity or services. Neurodivergent communities run on it.

N

Neuro-affirming

Putting the neurodiversity paradigm into practice by starting from needs rather than behaviour, respecting identity, language and autonomy, and never trying to make someone look more typical.

Neuro-holographic

A deeply relational Autistic way of being in which there is no hard line between self and surroundings; the person and the environment are part of one another. The term grew from conversations within the neurodivergent community, including with Dawn Prince-Hughes.

Neurobiology

Connections between the brain, body and sensory systems.

Neuroception

Stephen Porges’s term for the way the nervous system senses safety or danger beneath conscious awareness. Autistic nervous systems may read environments as unsafe that others find neutral, which shapes behaviour before any choice is made.

Neuroception in the Stimpunks glossary

Neurocosmopolitanism

Nick Walker’s term for a stance that welcomes the whole range of human minds, approaching neurological difference with the curiosity and respect a good traveller brings to other cultures.

Neurocosmopolitanism in the Stimpunks glossary

Neurodivergent

An individual is ‘neurodivergent’ if they diverge from the dominant societal standards of ‘normal’ (Asasumasu, 2000s; Walker, 2021). Some people may describe themselves as multiply neurodivergent, e.g., Autistic, ADHD and OCD. The term ‘neurodivergent’ was never intended to be anything other than a value-neutral term. It is important it is not used as a synonym for Autistic / ADHD.

Neurodiverse

The world and society is ‘neurodiverse’ as everyone is different; an individual cannot be. An individual who differs from the majority of norms can be described as neurodivergent.

Neurodiversity

Neurodiversity is natural and valuable. When we use the term ‘neurodiversity’, we refer to the diversity of human brains and minds and recognises everybody’s differences in a value-neutral way: “diversity of human minds, the infinite variation in neurocognitive functioning within our species”. Neurodiversity itself is just a biological fact! (Walker, 2021).
Read more about the origin of neurodiversity as a concept: The neurodiversity concept was developed collectively. An overdue correction on the origins of neurodiversity theory: Monique Botha, Robert Chapman, Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, Steven K Kapp, Abs Stannard Ashley, Nick Walker, (2024). Walker, 2014: https://neuroqueer.com/neurodiversity-terms-and-definitions and work by Lived Experience Educator, Sonny Jane Wise.
More: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13623613241237871

Neurodiversity infinity symbol

The rainbow (or gold) infinity loop used by the neurodiversity movement to show the endless variety of human minds, first used by Aspies For Freedom on Autistic Pride Day in 2005. It replaces the puzzle piece, which many Autistic people reject.

Neurodiversity Movement

Social justice movement driving forward the ethos of the neurodiversity paradigm.

Neurodiversity Paradigm

A perspective that understands, accepts and embraces the differences of everyone. Within this theory it is believed there is no single ‘right’ or ‘normal’ neurotype, just as there is no single ‘right’ or normal gender or race. It rejects the medical model of seeing differences as deficits. It also recognises the same dynamics and inequalities that occur in society with social, cultural, racial and gender inequalities are also seen in those that are neurodivergent. (For more information see: Nick Walker’s work, Neuroqueer Heresies, 2021 for further info).

Neuroessentialism

Reducing a person to their brain, as if a scan or a diagnosis explained who they are and fixed what they could become (Nick Walker). It ignores context, relationships and lived experience.

Neuroessentialism in the Stimpunks glossary

Neurokin

The people whose minds work like yours, found in the moment someone does not need you to explain. Family by neurotype rather than by blood.

Neurokin in the Stimpunks glossary

Neurological pluralism

A society that makes room for many kinds of minds, rather than organising everything around one ‘normal’ neurotype.

Neurological Pluralism in the Stimpunks glossary

Neuromajority

Often used to describe people that are not neurodivergent, i.e. the majority of the population. Neuromajority is sometimes used instead of neurotypical, although the idea of there being a ‘typical’ / ‘normal’ mind is sometimes debated.

Neuronormativity

Reflects norms, standards, expectations and ideals that centre the majority of society’s way of functioning as the right and normal way to live in the world (ie not neurodivergent or disabled).

Neuroqueer

Theory developed by Nick Walker. To neuroqueer is to liberate yourself by subverting neuronormative and heteronormative expectations. You can engage in neuroqueer practice and also be neuroqueer. It is both a verb and an adjective. (Further info see Nick Walker’s work: https://neuroqueer.com/neuroqueer-an-introduction/)

Neurosupremacy

The belief, stated or assumed, that some neurotypes or some neurodivergent people are better than others, and policing who counts. It can show up inside the neurodivergent community as well as outside it.

Neurosupremacy in the Stimpunks glossary

Neurotype

A kind of mind. Autistic, ADHD, dyslexic and non-Autistic are all neurotypes; none of them is the default.

Neurotype in the Stimpunks glossary

Neurotypical

A person whose neurotype fits what society treats as standard. Neurotypical is one neurotype among many, not the norm that everyone else falls short of.

Neurotypical in the Stimpunks glossary

Niche construction

The way living things shape their environment to suit themselves, like beavers building dams. Autistic people do it too, by building routines, spaces and relationships that fit how they work. Support should help people build their niche, not stop them (Thomas Armstrong).

Niche Construction in the Stimpunks glossary

Nonspeaking

A person who does not use speech to communicate, some or all of the time. Nonspeaking is not the same as having nothing to say; many nonspeaking Autistic people communicate richly through typing, letterboards, AAC and the body. Preferred over ‘nonverbal’.

Nonspeaking in the Stimpunks glossary

Normal

A statistical average that has been turned into a standard to live up to. Nobody is normal in every way, and treating ‘normal’ as the goal is where much of the harm done to neurodivergent people begins.

Normal in the Stimpunks glossary

O

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

A neurodivergence where a person experiences intrusive obsessive thoughts that trigger compulsions to try and relieve the anxiety caused.

Open source

Making the workings of something freely available for anyone to use, learn from and improve. The same spirit of sharing knowledge openly runs through much neurodivergent community work.

Open Source in the Stimpunks glossary

P

Parallel play

Being alongside someone, each doing your own thing, with no pressure to interact. It is a valid and often preferred form of Autistic connection at any age, not a stage to grow out of.

Passions

(also referred to as special interests), an all consuming deep interest that an Autistic or ADHD person may have about a certain topic, activity or sensory experience. Passions can bring great joy and create a monotropic flow state (single channel of thought, which is a natural state for an Autistic bodymind). Engaging in passions/ special interests (SpIns) provides opportunities for Autistic people to regulate, gain deep knowledge or skills in a certain activity / topic and can be a good opportunity to socialise and communicate with others that may share the same passion.

Pathology lite

Using neurodiversity language on the surface while still treating difference as a disorder to be managed. The words change; the deficit thinking does not.

Pathology Lite in the Stimpunks glossary

Pathology paradigm

The view that there is one right way for a mind to work, and that any difference from it is a disorder to be diagnosed and treated. Nick Walker contrasts it with the neurodiversity paradigm.

PDA

Pathological Demand Avoidance or some prefer Pervasive Drive for Autonomy (coined by Tomlin Wildling), PDA is widely understood to be a profile of Autism, “involving the avoidance of everyday demands and the use of social strategies as part of this avoidance. PDA individuals share Autistic characteristics and also have many of the ‘key features’ of a PDA profile”. (PDA Society definition).
More: www.pdasociety.org.uk

Peer support

Support from people who share your experience, offered as equals. Autistic-led peer support is often more helpful than professional support because nothing has to be explained first.

Peer Support in the Stimpunks glossary

Penguin Pebbling

Gifts and acts of kindness shared between people based on their interests (eg. I saw this meme or I found this pebble and thought of you).

Performative neurodiversity (neurodiversity lite)

Using the language and symbols of neurodiversity for appearance, in marketing or awareness campaigns, without changing practice or sharing power with neurodivergent people (Shain M. Neumeier, 2018).

Pluralism

Recognising that many different ways of being, thinking and living can coexist, engaging with difference rather than merely tolerating it, and not imposing one way on everyone.

Pluralism in the Stimpunks glossary

Polyvagal theory

Stephen Porges’s model of how the nervous system shifts between states of safety and connection, mobilisation (fight or flight) and shutdown. It helps explain why felt safety must come before learning or communication.

Polyvagal Theory in the Stimpunks glossary

Posthumanism

A way of thinking that questions the idea of a single ‘ideal human’ against whom everyone is measured, and sees people as entangled with their environments, tools and each other.

Posthumanism in the Stimpunks glossary

Privilege

Unearned advantages that come from fitting what society is built for. Neurotypical privilege includes never having to mask, explain yourself, or fight for your needs to be taken seriously.

Privilege in the Stimpunks glossary

Problem behaviour

A label placed on a person’s actions by those who find them inconvenient. Looking for the problem in the environment or the unmet need, rather than in the person, changes everything.

Processing time

The time a person needs to take in information, make sense of it and respond. Autistic people often need longer, especially under stress. Waiting, without repeating or rephrasing, is a powerful accommodation.

Processing Time in the Stimpunks glossary

Progressive education

Approaches to education that start from the learner’s interests and curiosity, value doing over drilling, and treat children as people now rather than adults in waiting.

Progressive Education in the Stimpunks glossary

Proprioception

Also called kinaesthesia, is the body’s ability to sense and understand its location, movements, and actions.

Psychological safety

Feeling safe enough to speak up, ask questions, make mistakes and be yourself without fear of being shamed or punished (Amy Edmondson). It is the foundation of any space where neurodivergent people can thrive.

Puzzle

The puzzle piece symbol for autism, which many Autistic people reject because it suggests they are a mystery to be solved or a missing piece. The infinity symbol is the community’s preferred alternative.

Puzzle in the Stimpunks glossary

Q

Queer

A reclaimed word for identities outside the expected norms of gender and sexuality, and a way of questioning norms themselves. Many Autistic people are queer, and the two communities share a long history of self-definition.

Queer in the Stimpunks glossary

R

Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD)

Refers to an intense emotional response related to actual or perceived rejection and heightened sensitivity to criticism or any negative reaction from people due to past traumatic experiences.

Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria in the Stimpunks glossary

Resilience

Often used to tell marginalised people to cope better with harm. Real resilience grows from safe relationships, rest and environments that fit, not from being expected to endure.

Rumination

Going over the same thoughts, worries or past events again and again. It is common in Autistic and ADHD people and is often fed by uncertainty, rejection or unresolved social confusion.

S

Safe food

A food that a person can reliably eat and that feels predictable in taste, texture and smell. Safe foods keep people nourished through stress and overwhelm, and should be respected, not challenged.

Safe space

A place or environment where individuals can freely express their identity and where their needs are met (including sensory needs and psychological safety) without fear of discrimination or harm, providing a place where a person gains a sense of comfort, security, and acceptance as their authentic self.

Samefood

Eating the same food, or the same few foods, over and over. It is a sensory and regulation preference, not fussiness, and it often changes on its own over time.

School-induced anxiety

Anxiety caused by the school environment itself: its sensory load, demands, social pressure and lack of autonomy. The problem lies in the setting, not the child, which is why ‘school refusal’ is a misleading label.

Scientism

Treating a narrow idea of scientific measurement as the only valid knowledge, while dismissing lived experience. It is how Autistic people’s own accounts get overruled by checklists.

Scientism in the Stimpunks glossary

Scripting

This can be a form of masking to try and fit into a social group. However, rehearsing, practising and preparing what to say in advance of a social situation can also be helpful to reduce anxiety.

Self-care

Meeting your own needs for rest, regulation, nourishment and joy. For neurodivergent people it often looks different from the advertised version: stimming, special interests, saying no and being alone can all be self-care.

Self-Care in the Stimpunks glossary

Self-determination theory

A well-evidenced theory of motivation (Deci and Ryan) which says that people thrive when three needs are met: autonomy, competence and relatedness. Compliance-based approaches undermine all three.

Self-Determination Theory in the Stimpunks glossary

Self-identification

Recognising yourself as Autistic without a formal diagnosis. Diagnosis is a gateway to some support, not a test of whether you are Autistic. Self-identification is valid.

Self-injurious stimming

Stimming that causes harm, such as hitting or biting oneself, usually a sign of extreme overwhelm, pain or unmet need. The answer is to reduce the distress and offer safer sensory input, not to punish the stim.

Self-Injurious Stimming in the Stimpunks glossary

Sensory avoidance

Intentionally withdrawing from sensory experiences that don’t make a person feel good or gives them discomfort/pain.

Sensory diet

An occupational therapist may create a ‘sensory diet’ which is an individual programme of ideas and activities to help regulate an individual’s sensory system depending on their needs.

Sensory processing

An individual’s way of perceiving, interpreting and responding to a wide range of sensory experiences, signals and stimuli.

Sensory seeking

Intentionally searching and engaging in sensory experiences that help make a person feel good and balance their sensory system eg different type of movements, sounds, tastes, textures, sights etc.

Sensory sensitivity

Depending on an individual’s response to sensory stimuli at the time some senses may be heightened and make the person feel discomfort or pain, this could cause some people to avoid certain situations and stimuli (e.g., sounds may be louder / certain textures may feel painful etc).

Sensory trauma

The lasting harm done by repeated sensory overwhelm with no escape, such as years in a loud classroom (a term from Autism Wellbeing). The body learns that the environment is unsafe.

Sensory Trauma in the Stimpunks glossary

Shared-air space

Being physically together in the same room, breathing the same air. Naming it this way makes clear that online connection is a different kind of space, not a lesser one.

Shared-Air Space in the Stimpunks glossary

Shared-signal space

Connection carried by messages, voice notes, threads and calls rather than by being in the same room. For many Autistic people it is where co-regulation and friendship actually happen.

Shared-Signal Space in the Stimpunks glossary

Shutdown

A response to stress, sensory, social, or communication overload that may result in an Autistic person’s inability to communicate, engage in activities, or complete executive functioning tasks; the senses may be heightened or lowered. Often described as being like an internal meltdown. A shutdown state may also follow a meltdown. There may be no set pattern.

Shutdown in the Stimpunks glossary

Situational mutism

A person’s inability to produce speech in certain contexts.

Situational Mutism in the Stimpunks glossary

Solarpunk

A hopeful vision of the future where technology, community and nature work together, in contrast to dystopian futures. Stimpunks draw on it as an image of a world built for everyone, at a human pace.

Solarpunk in the Stimpunks glossary

Space holder

A person who holds space for others, being present, steady and non-judgemental so that someone can feel, process and be themselves safely (Kay Aldred, 2023).

Space Holder in the Stimpunks glossary

Special interest

A deep, focused and joyful interest that an Autistic person returns to for regulation, learning and connection. Many prefer ‘passion’ because ‘special’ can sound patronising.

Special needs

A phrase many disabled people reject. Needs are not special; they are human needs that go unmet in environments designed for a narrow range of people. Say ‘support needs’, or name the need.

Special Needs in the Stimpunks glossary

Spiky profile

Having strengths and support needs that sit far apart. A person can be exceptional at one thing and need a lot of help with another. Averages hide this; good support does not.

SpInfodump

Sharing a special interest (SpIn) in a joyful outpouring of detail. It is a form of connection and trust, and being on the receiving end is a gift.

Spoon theory

Christine Miserandino’s way of describing limited daily energy as a handful of spoons. Every task costs spoons, and when they are gone, they are gone. It helps explain why ‘small’ things can be too much.

Stigma

Shame and disapproval attached to a difference by society, so that people hide who they are. Stigma, not the difference itself, causes much of the harm Autistic people experience.

Stim listening

Listening to the same song, sound or phrase over and over for regulation and joy (Jim Irion). An auditory stim, not a habit to break.

Stim Listening in the Stimpunks glossary

Stim-watching

Watching the same clip, scene or movement repeatedly for comfort and regulation, such as replaying a favourite video (Jim Irion). A visual stim.

Stim-Watching in the Stimpunks glossary

Stimming

Repetitive behaviours, movements and activities that help to regulate the mind and body can bring a sense of joy and a flow state.

Synaesthesia

Describes the mixing or overlapping of the senses (e.g., sound to colour). It is complex and there are many forms of synaesthesia.

T

Theory of mind

The claim that Autistic people cannot imagine other people’s minds. It has been challenged by research and by Autistic people themselves; the double empathy problem shows that understanding breaks down in both directions.

Theory of Mind in the Stimpunks glossary

Tics

Repetitive muscle movements that result in sudden movements, body jolts or vocalisations.

Time processing difficulties

Often associated with ADHD where a person has difficulty processing and understanding the passing of normal clock time.

Tourette's Syndrome

Causes a person to make involuntary sounds and movements called tics (some people may also experience internal tics).

Tourette Syndrome in the Stimpunks glossary

Transition

A change from one activity to the next, or from one environment to another.

Trauma

The lasting imprint of experiences that overwhelmed a person’s ability to cope. For many Autistic people, trauma comes from everyday life: sensory overload, masking, bullying and being misunderstood.

Trauma in the Stimpunks glossary

Trauma-Informed Approach

The purpose of trauma-informed practice is not to treat trauma-related difficulties, which is the role of trauma-specialist services. It is about addressing the barriers that people may experience when accessing education, health and care services and meeting their needs. “Asking ’What does this person need’? rather than ‘What is wrong with this person’?.”
More: www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-definition-of-trauma-informed-practice/working-definition-of-trauma-informed-practice

Triple empathy problem

An extension of the double empathy problem to healthcare (Shaw and colleagues, 2023), where the gap between Autistic patients and non-Autistic clinicians is widened again by medical culture and language.

Triple Empathy Problem in the Stimpunks glossary

Trust

The felt sense that a person or place is safe, reliable and on your side. For many Autistic people trust is earned slowly and lost quickly; honesty and consistency build it.

Trust in the Stimpunks glossary

U

Universal design for learning (UDL)

Planning teaching so that it works for the widest range of learners from the start, by offering many ways to take in information, show learning and stay engaged. It removes the need for most individual adjustments.

Universal Design for Learning in the Stimpunks glossary

Unmasking

The slow, uneven work of letting the natural self back out: stimming, speaking and moving as you are. It is only safe in places and relationships that will hold it.

Unmet needs

Needs that are not being met in the current environment, such as safety, rest, sensory regulation, autonomy or connection. Most distressed behaviour is a signal of an unmet need.

Unmet Needs in the Stimpunks glossary

V

Values

What matters most to a person and guides their choices. Starting from a person’s values, rather than from what others want them to do, is the basis of respectful support.

Values in the Stimpunks glossary

Vestibular

Part of the sensory system that helps people orientate their body in space and supports balance.

W

Weird

A word many neurodivergent people reclaim with pride. Being weird means not fitting a narrow norm, and the world needs weird.

Weirdwashing

Cashing in on the surface signs of strangeness, such as quirky branding, without making any room for real difference (Fergus Murray, 2025).

Weirdwashing in the Stimpunks glossary

Wellness

An industry that sells individual fixes for problems caused by society, and mostly serves people who are already well. Real wellbeing for neurodivergent people comes from acceptance, access, rest and community, not from being told to try harder.

Wellness in the Stimpunks glossary

Z

Zero-based design

Starting from nothing and justifying every rule and tradition from scratch, as if no school or service existed yet (Ira David Socol). It asks what people actually need, rather than tweaking what is already there.

Zero-Based Design in the Stimpunks glossary

This glossary is not comprehensive, and it changes as our language does. If a word you have met is missing, tell me and I will add it.

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Glossary: Neuro-Affirming Words for Families and Professionals

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