‘A Lovely Safe Umbrella to Describe Yourself With’ or ‘Meaningless’: An Online Survey of UK-Based Neurodivergent Adults’ Views of Neurodiversity-Related Terminology

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Grant, A., Leigh, J., Botha, M., Macdonald, S. J., Williams, K., Williams, G., Rose, K., Memmott, A., & Pearson, A. (2025). ‘A Lovely Safe Umbrella to Describe Yourself With’ or ‘Meaningless’: An Online Survey of UK-Based Neurodivergent Adults’ Views of Neurodiversity-Related Terminology. Neurodiversity, 3. https://doi.org/10.1177/27546330251390590

Journal or book title
Neurodiversity
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Volume
3
Article number
27546330251390590
Publication date: 1 Nov 2025 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) OpenAlex source

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
9
Publication authors identified as autistic
7 / 9 (77.8%)
  1. Aimee Grant *
  2. Jennifer Leigh
  3. Monique Botha *
  4. Stephen J. Macdonald
  5. Kathryn Williams *
  1. Gemma Williams *
  2. Kieran Rose *
  3. Ann Memmott *
  4. Amy Pearson *

Abstract

Background: Neurodivergence refers to people with ways of behaving and thinking that diverge from the norm. Examples include Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), dyspraxia, dyslexia and Tourette syndrome. Neurodivergent people report being stigmatised, including by language. The language preferences of neurodivergent adults have been largely restricted to studies focused on single forms of neurodivergence, primarily Autism. Methods: We undertook an online survey with 901 neurodivergent adults from the UK, focused on their use of and thoughts about terminology related to neurodivergence, including terms such as ‘neurodiversity’ and ‘neurodivergence’. Analysis utilised descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Results: Almost all participants (98.8%) had heard of neurodiversity, and 74.8% used neurodiversity terminology. We developed three themes. First, ‘an umbrella term’, focused on the positive and negative aspects of how ‘neurodivergence’ incorporated multiple forms of neurodivergence. Second, ‘understanding of neurodivergence (vs. neurodiverse)’, centred around a lack of understanding of neurodiversity terminology. Third, ‘stigma and identity’ focused on neurodiversity terminology's potential to reduce stigma, and simultaneously increase stigma towards individual types of neurodivergence, including Autism and ADHD. Conclusion: Those providing services to neurodivergent people should generally use neurodiversity terminology correctly, but could also mirror the individual's language choices when communicating one-to-one.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 3 Oct 2026 01:00.

Cited references
48
With a DOI
32
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
16
9 / 48 (18.8%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
3 / 48 (6.2%)
References with detected author names
45 / 48 (93.8%)
Without detected author names
3
Without a structured title
3
Without a stable identifier
15
References with raw author names still to review
3
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
227
From DOI or external metadata
227
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
3
119 / 227 (52.4%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 108 / 227 (47.6%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
57 / 227 (25.1%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 57 / 119 (47.9%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 45 / 210 (21.4%).
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