Monotropism is a neurodiversity-affirming theory of autism (Murray et al., 2005). 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.
Monotropism can have a positive and negative impact on sensory, social and communication needs depending on the environment, the support provided and how a person manages their mind and body.
As a group of Autistic people, Helen Edgar (Autistic Realms), Marion McLaughlin (Aurora Consulting), and Felicity Goodhall (Flappy Inky Feathers) all share a passionate interest in language and collecting words from different nationalities that reflect our own monotropic neurodivergent experiences.
Sharing passions and interests, info-dumping, working in parallel play (body-doubling), and support swapping are part the Five Neurodivergent Love Locutions. It has been a pure joy creating this together and we are delighted to be able to offer our E-Book, Words: Inspired By the Experience of Being Monotropic as a FREE download.
We have collected some of our favourite words that resonate with our experiences of being monotropic.
Free open-source community e-book:
‘Words: Inspired By The Experience Of Being Monotropic’.
Many of these words have been discovered through other social media platforms and books. We would like to give a mention to @aesthetic_logophile on Instagram and also Tom Read Wilson, On The Tip Of My Tongue, who inspired us. We have used some of their definitions of words in our compilation and added to and expanded on others by sharing our own insights.
We would like this community project to continue and expand!
Please share some words that relate to your own experience as an Autistic/ ADHD/ AuDHD / Monotropic person. We are also interested in finding out more information about word origins if you have further info about any words we have collected so far!
Ideas to reflect on as you read:
How do some of these words resonate with you?
What words would you add?
Which word describes how you feel today?
Please follow us, like, share, and add your comments to our social media profiles as we share our joy of language, being monotropic!
Find out more:
Monotropism.org
Autistic Realms
Aurora Consulting
Flappy Inky Feathers
Stimpunks
DOWNLOAD OUR FREE E-BOOK
Resources on monotropism
If you would like to go further with monotropism, these might help. Many things in the shop are pay what you can, and lots of resources are free.
- An Introduction to the Theory of Monotropism: a free e-book.
- My Monotropic Map workbook: map your own interests, flow and attention.
- The Map of Monotropic Experiences: explore monotropic attention, interests and flow.
- Embracing Monotropism and Preventing Burnout: my book on monotropism and preventing Autistic burnout in young people.
- Embracing Monotropism (paperback): the same book in print.
- Monotropism resources in the shop: posters, cards and guides, pay what you can.
