They don’t take #DisabilityStudies classes.
Karrie Higgins
They don’t socialize with us.
They don’t listen to us.
Our advocacy for neurodiversity affirming practice in healthcare seeks to improve delivery of healthcare to neurodivergent and disabled consumers. We seek to improve health practitioner competency through education and training programs and bring attention to the inadequacies of care in order to advance systemic change.
We see lots of neurodiversity-lite solutions applied to healthcare that fail to advance systemic change. We’re here for real structural change steeped in neurodiversity and disability justice.
Join us on our healthcare learning pathway. Learn how to adopt neurodiversity affirming practice that meets our needs into care settings.
About Learning Pathways
A learning pathway is a route taken by a learner through a range of pages, modules, lessons, and courses to build knowledge progressively.
Pathways don’t need to be traversed in order. Pick what looks interesting. Choose your own adventure.
Access
Here are some things practitioners should and should not do in order to provide neurodiversity affirming care.
Language is access infrastructure. The words practitioners use in clinical settings shape whether neurodivergent people feel safe enough to disclose, engage, and return. Deficit-based language discourages disclosure of neurodivergence and leads to masking and camouflaging. This limits access to required support, which culminates in non-attendance for appointments—further impacting mental health and overall well-being.
The words that clinical practitioners use can redefine quality of care from ‘simple awareness’ of neurodivergence towards ‘intentional affirmation.’ This choice can signal safety, trust and be an act of resistance, countering decades of marginalisation and stigma.
Potts et al. (2026), Journal of Medical Radiation Sciences
- Healthcare Access: They don’t take Disability Studies classes. They don’t socialize with us. They don’t listen to us.
- Enable Dignity: Everywhere Should Be Accessible
- Autistic Communication Tool | Supporting Autistic People in Healthcare
- Stimpunks Guide to the NeurodiVerse Issue #2: Healthcare Access
Language
Language is closely tied to feeling seen. Inappropriate use of language in healthcare has promoted a culture of exclusion and stigma, reducing equitable access to care and minimising the opportunities of neurodivergent people to lead fulfilling lives. Moving away from language that frames conditions primarily as disorders or symptoms—towards terminology that foregrounds the person, their needs, and the dimensions of their lived experience—can fundamentally reshape clinical interactions and patient engagement.
The majority of autistic people prefer identity-first language—autistic person, not person with autism. Identity-first expressions reflect the inseparability of autism from self and culture, portraying how being autistic is central to an individual’s human experience. Functioning labels such as “high-functioning” and “low-functioning” misrepresent the range of support needs autistic people have across different contexts and over time. Specific support needs is the preferred term within the autistic community.
Language is closely tied to feeling ‘seen’, and its use can shape neurodivergent people’s sense of self and belonging, as well as how they are supported and included in decisions about their care.
Potts et al. (2026), Journal of Medical Radiation Sciences
- 💬 Identity First Language: Thinking differently requires speaking differently.
- Potts, B., Parish, C. J., Ukaji, N. F., Pavlopoulou, G., et al. (2026). The role of language in shaping cultural perceptions within healthcare and supporting neurodivergent people’s well-being and access to care: Focus on autistic experiences. Journal of Medical Radiation Sciences.
Our Needs
Here are some things we need as neurodivergent and disabled people seeking care.
- We Need Human-Centered Healthcare
- Neuroception and Sensory Load: Our Complex Sensory Experiences
- Access Intimacy
Inclusive and Affirming Care Settings
Here’s how to create a neurodiversity inclusive environment in healthcare settings.
The Autistic SPACE Framework
The Autistic SPACE framework (Doherty, McCowan & Shaw, 2023) provides a holistic model placing communication at its centre. SPACE covers five dimensions of neurodiversity-affirming care in clinical settings.
- Sensory — Recognise and adapt to each person’s sensory profile. Clinical environments are often sensory-intensive. Lighting, sound, unpredictable touch, and waiting environments all carry load.
- Predictability — Reduce uncertainty at every stage. Provide clear information ahead of change. Written or pictorial procedural guides before or upon arrival significantly reduce anxiety resultant from uncertainty.
- Acceptance — Recognise individual difference; explicitly value it. Do not assume all autistic people are the same or force neurotypical norms of communication and behaviour.
- Communication — Use literal, explicit language. Circumvent idioms and vague phrasing. Monotropism Theory supports this: autistic attention is highly focused, and precise, unambiguous directives prevent misdirection during critical procedures. Use direct verbal questioning—”Are you ready to continue?”—rather than relying on non-verbal cues prone to misinterpretation.
- Empathy — Frame communication to overcome the Double Empathy Problem. Breakdowns in clinical communication are not due to a deficit in the autistic patient, but a mutual difficulty in reciprocal understanding between people with different neurotypes.
Ultimately, this person-centred model requires the practitioner to consult the patient on their preferred use of language and communication style, recognising their unique expertise in their own experience.
Humanising and Dehumanising Practice
The table below maps eight dimensions of experience-sensitive care against specific examples of humanising and dehumanising practice in healthcare settings. The right column is not a list of bad actors. It is a list of default clinical behaviours—things that happen every day without malicious intent—that nonetheless cause harm.
| Dimension | Humanising practice | Dehumanising practice |
|---|---|---|
| Insiderness The person’s inner experience and subjectivity | Invite the person to share “how it feels / what you sense” (sensory check-in); adapt communication to their preferred mode | Treat them as an object of intervention; ignore their sensory report or internal experience; assume you “know” better |
| Agency The person’s capacity to act and make choices | Provide clear information ahead of change; invite choices; accept that their decisions matter | Impose interventions without choice; hide changes; assume their compliance is automatic |
| Uniqueness Recognising individual difference—not “one size fits all” | Recognise each person’s sensory profile, communication style and preferences; explicitly value difference | Assume all autistic people are the same; force neurotypical norms; ignore personal sensory needs |
| Togetherness Belonging, relational connection | Foster relational safety, predictable relational routines, empathetic listening; build inclusive communities | Isolate the person; treat them only as a case load; avoid adapting communication; ignore relational context |
| Sensemaking The person’s meaning-making and understanding of their world | Use clear, tailored communication; support them to make sense of changes; adapt the sensory environment to reduce overload | Use obscure jargon; surprise people; ignore the need for explanation or sensory supports that aid understanding |
| Personal journey Life as evolving—respecting past, present, and future | Recognise their history, hopes, and transitions; support predictable pathways; show empathy for their trajectory | Focus only on “fixing now”; ignore their past or future; treat them as static or defined by a label |
| Sense of place Feeling at home in one’s body, environment, surroundings | Adapt the physical/sensory environment to help them feel safe and at home; support predictability of setting | Use chaotic or overstimulating settings; ignore sensory distress; expect adaptation without environmental change |
| Embodiment Holistic person-in-body—physical, sensory, and emotional together | Respect sensory regulation, body signals, fatigue; show empathy for embodied needs; accept person-in-body | Treat the person as only mind/behaviour; ignore sensory or physical cues; force activity, ignoring fatigue or sensory overload |
- Create a Neurodiversity Inclusive Environment
- Three Therapeutic Approaches to Supporting Autistic People in Healthcare Settings
- Autism in Care Settings: Managing Sensory Load
- Bodymind Affirmation
- Making Spaces Safer: Bodymind Affirmation and Access Intimacy
Common Obstacles
Here are common obstacles to bringing neurodiversity affirming practice to care settings.
- 14 Obstacles to DEI-AB and Neurodiversity Affirming Practice
- Perceptual Worlds and Sensory Trauma
- Sensory Trauma
- Sensory Hell
Training
Our allies at Autistic Collaboration Trust offer training on providing inclusive care.
