Neuro-affirming Language & Glossaries

Find out about why language is important in the blog I wrote for GROVE Neurodivergent Education and Mentoring (March 2025): Neuro-Affirming Language & Avoiding the Harm of Neurodiversity-Lite.

Until recently, most of wider society’s knowledge about Autism has been created by non-Autistic people through the lens of the pathology paradigm and the medical model and those perspectives have driven language choice. Autism has been framed as a ‘disorder’ or ‘condition’ people ‘have’ – a fault or error that, if fixed, would leave an otherwise ‘normal’ person. Remedies for such faults have been wide-ranging but mostly focused on changing Autistic people to adopt neuro-normative ways of being to better fit into society. Parents, carers and professionals have been led to believe that interventions such as social cognition or social skills training, Applied Behaviour Analysis or ‘ABA’ and other behaviourist approaches are helpful, supportive, even necessary. 

Sadly, many people do not understand the harm these approaches can cause. 

When considering language ‘harm’ is certainly a powerful word. Unfortunately, it is the right one to choose.  

We do not believe that parents, carers and professionals intend to harm – quite the opposite in fact – but it is happening as a tragic result of knowledge about being Autistic being created by the wrong people.  

Thankfully things are changing! Slowly but surely, Autistic people and allies are changing the narrative.  

What is ‘neuro-affirming’ language? 

It can take a lot of un-learning to understand why and how we need a shift towards being neuro-affirming.  If we adopt a neuro-affirming approach, we can honour Autistic experiences, Autistic identity and validate everyone’s unique ways of being. Being neuro-affirming offers a chance for people to share their own stories, rather than have others do that for them, for us all to listen to each other and collaborate to meet everyone’s needs. It allows a shift away from fixing or changing the Autistic person to thinking of ways we can try to support, in particular – ways to change the environment to meet needs (Beardon, 2017). Being neuro-affirming is about shifting your beliefs and your actions – moving away those from deficit and pathology – and quite naturally, when we change the perspectives, language follows.  
 
It is helpful when considering a move towards being ‘neuro-affirming’ to understand the Neurodiversity Paradigm (Walker, 2021):   

“The Neurodiversity Paradigm is a perspective that understands, accepts and embraces everyone’s differences. 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.” (Edgar, 2023)   

A short glossary of neuroaffirming language is included in the blog I wrote for GROVE which can be used as a starting point to open up conversations.


Click the image below for another glossary I wrote for The PDA Space Summit (2023).

Stimpunks Glossary

I work with Stimpunks as their Co-Creative Director. Our glossary now has over 400 terms, reflecting the ever-changing discourse and needs of the neurodivergent and disabled community.

What would you add?

What would you change?

“Language is also a place of struggle.”

“Thinking differently requires speaking differently.” “Develop a language in which they can both understand and challenge the world in which they live.”
bell hooks (1989)

(hooks, b. (1989). Choosing The Margin As A Space Of Radical Openness. Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media, 36, 15–23. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44111660)

“The shift from the pathology paradigm to the neurodiversity paradigm calls for a radical shift in language, because the appropriate language for discussing medical problems is quite different from the appropriate language for discussing diversity”.
THROW AWAY THE MASTER’S TOOLS: LIBERATING OURSELVES FROM THE PATHOLOGY PARADIGM (Nick Walker)

Neuro-Affirming Language Resources

Where do you anchor your beliefs?

“Ideologies are like rocks onto which individuals and institutions anchor their thoughts about what it means to be an “ideal language user” and what “standardized languaging is.” These deeply ingrained beliefs, influenced by colonial legacies and socio-political contexts, invisibly enforce a hierarchical order between people and their access to rights and privilege within societies. They inferiorize, marginalize, racialize, and nullify students and their families.” (Brea-Spahn & Bauler, 2023).

Find out more:
Brea-Spahn, M. R., & Bauler, C. V. (2023). Where do you anchor your beliefs? An invitation to interrogate dominant ideologies of language and languaging in Speech-Language pathology. Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 54(3), 675–687. https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_lshss-22-00135

This is an absolutely wonderful resource about neuro-affirming language from Communication First

“We are finding our own voice, telling our own truths, and expressing our own individual and collective stories. We are naming ourselves. And we choose our words with great care.

Our decisions are guided by respect for the diversity of our community and for every person’s right to choose the words they use for themselves. We recognize that language evolves, and we commit to continuing to listen, learn, and advocate. We understand the power of language in the pursuit of justice, and we are grateful for the previous liberation movements that have paved the way for communication and linguistic justice.”

They have various versions of this resource, including a free PDF download available here.

Rewriting Social Care – Why Language Matters … even more!

“The words we use are powerful. They paint pictures in our minds. These images, and the ideas they generate and reinforce, influence the way we all think, feel and behave. They reflect, and shape, our view of ourselves, each other and the way we work together. Speak volumes about the past and affect all our futures. But I genuinely believe that because the language of social care is so deeply entrenched, we don’t think enough about the true meaning or impact of the words we use, the story they tell, and the future they shape.”

by Bryony Shannon

A wonderful blog with lots of signposting and resources about language and why we need to reframe deficit models and use of language. Find out more here

“Language is the most powerful tool we have. Let’s use it well.”
Surviving Safeguarding

“Language matters, and I think words are just as important as actions, but we also need action – not just alternative words.

We need to dismantle our social care sorting office with its associated barriers, assumptions, battlegrounds and quick fix solutions, and return our focus to people, not processes. Lives, not services. Us, not them and us.

We need to stop assuming the role of the expert in people’s lives, and reclaim our role as experts in listening, making connections, upholding human rights, and building lasting relationships.

We need to welcome people rather than pushing them away, trust our instincts, our judgement, and the people we’re working with. Make decisions with people, not for them, and focus on capabilities and possibilities rather than problems and risks.

We need to change our practice as well as our language.

We need to rewrite social care.”

Bryony Shannon

Words that make me go hmmmm..

Words that make me go hmmmmm is another great resource from Bryonny Shannon. An A-Z list of words and phrases we use in adult social care that “make me go hmmm…’. They link to blog posts Bryonny has written about, or referenced them in.

Parley-Vous Health and Social Care (An A-Z of CareSpeak)

by Mark Neary

A great blog and glossary of words that ignite curiosity about the words and phrases we use and prompt discussion about how damaging some of these words are – are there better words we can use that truly honour people’s needs and dignity?

Find out more here.

Neurodivergent Neuro-Affirming Glossary Flashcards 
(over 120 terms covered!)

I am delighted to have been able to support Catherine Flynn from Neurofriendly Therapy, who has created a set of wonderful & FREE OPEN ACCESS Neurodivergent Neuro-Affirming Glossary Flashcards.

Neurodivergent Neuro-Affirming Glossary Flashcards 
(over 120 terms covered!)


The wonderful open-source artwork serves as a conversation starter to some of the most frequently used words and concepts associated with neurodiversity and also includes some more unique terms and concepts! 

Find out more here from Catherine Flynn, Neurofriendly Therapy