Pathology lite complements the now well-known concept of neurodiversity lite. It highlights equally risky ways that scientific discourse and practice can subtly reinforce harm against neurodivergent people, often without being described as such.
In the emerging field of critical neurodiversity studies (Ashley, Creechan, and Jones, n. d.; Bergenmar, Creechan, and Stenning 2025; ND Hums Network, n. d.), the phrase ‘neurodiversity lite’ has been used to describe rhetorical practices of assimilation and neutralisation of the neurodiversity lexicon (and of its critical and subversive potentials) by mainstream actors in psychological, economic, or institutional spheres (Neumeier 2018).
In the neoliberal era, neurodiversity lite functions by claiming to embrace the neurodiversity paradigm without concretely committing to a break from the pathology paradigm. Such a paradigm shift, however, is the sine qua non of all neurodiversity-affirming work (Walker 2021). While similar in its appearance, pathology lite differs in its function. Pathology lite refers to past or present discourse seeking to transform the pathology paradigm from within the bio-psycho-medical sciences without explicitly adopting a neurodiversity approach.
Photo credit: Ombre Tarragnat.
