What are the merits of identifying as neurodivergent? Assessing the effects of neurodiversity labels on the evaluation of and stigmatizing attitudes towards people exhibiting autistic traits.
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: BackgroundWith the neurodiversity movement gaining traction, people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other diagnoses have begun self-identifying as neurodivergent and report that this manner of disclosure boosts their self-esteem and well-being. However, little is known about how self-labelling as neurodivergent changes public perception about the people self-labelling as neurodivergent. This study explores how neurodiversity labels influence stigmatizing and empowering public perceptions of people displaying ASD-typical characteristics.MethodsIn a three-armed online-experiment, 1215 participants received a text-vignette describing a male adult with everyday life challenges typically associated with ASD. The man was either labelled as neurodivergent/neurodiverse, autistic, or not labelled. Participants then rated the described man in terms of social, general, and self-regulation competencies and answered questionnaires on stigmatizing and empowering beliefs about the presented person and/or people like him.ResultsIn the neurodiversity-label and no-label conditions, ratings on social competencies and emotional stability were higher than in the autism condition. The crucial stigmatization components blame and desired social distance were significantly lower in the neurodiversity- and autism-label conditions than in the no-label condition.ConclusionAcross all public perception outcome categories, using a neurodiversity label provided the optimal balance of benefits. This highlights how self-identifying as neurodivergent (rather than by one’s diagnosis) may be a way to circumvent some public stigma when disclosing one’s challenges and warrants further investigation into the generalizability and stability of such effects.
Source: PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints)
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7213500052