Published: November 2024 theconversation.com.au
LANGUAGE trends change quickly at the hands of social media users. They explode into our screens, rather than slowly evolve.
This can change the ways we talk about diagnoses such as autism and concepts like neurodiversity. But before we use a term, we should look at how it came to be and what it means to people.
So where does the new word “neurospicy” come from? And why do some people embrace it, while others reject it?
WHY DO SOME PEOPLE FAVOUR THE TERM ‘NEUROSPICY’?
Words like neurodiverse, neuro-inclusive, neuro-affirming and neurospicy are neologisms (new words) related to neurodiversity.These words don’t come from the original group in the 1990s or from medical professionals. They come from a large online community of neurodivergent people.
Neurospicy is a way of describing a person who experiences multiple forms of neurodivergence, or a collective, such as a family that has many neurodivergent members.
For some, the use of neurospicy avoids disclosure of a diagnosis.
Others feel it’s a creative way of pushing back against medical terms such as “mild autism”.
Blogger Randi Owsley writes:
Neurospicy embodies the richness, the zest, and the profound depth that characterise our unique neurological makeup. It’s a celebration of the vibrant, sometimes intense, facets of our identities.
WHY DO SOME PEOPLE DISLIKE IT?
The use of neologisms like neurospicy is controversial inside and outside the neurodivergent community.
Some parent advocates feel that terms associated with neurodiversity erase the profound difficulties of autistic people.
Neurodivergent people have also had some strong reactions to the word neurospicy. Some argue we should abandon words such as neurospicy and “neurosparkly” and be clear that we’re talking about disability.
