Neurotribes And The Pleasure Of Being Labelled

David Forsythe was a GP in Wateringbury for 30ish interesting years. When his mother, a primary school teacher, asked him ‘Have you read Jane Austin’s Persuasion’? he replied he’d never read a book from end to end. She dismissed him with a ‘Don’t be silly, you’re a GP!’. Having been diagnosed as being dyslexic at the late age 44, and due to better diagnosis and modern research, potentially somewhere on the Autistic spectrum, these discoveries led to the research into neurotypicals and mixed Neurotribes.

Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dyspraxia, Autism and its spectrum, Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, are all so called ‘learning disabilities’ that nowadays cause a need for increased teaching resources. In the 1950’s & 60’s they were just considered being less clever, and more often that not extra resources weren’t given and the benefits of different ways of thinking completely unrecognised.

Now, due cheaper neuroimaging, there are many validated labels. Where many people are thought to be Neurotypical (or as yet unclassified), experts are using newer, more specific classifications as we get better at understanding how these characteristics have always been there and contribute to societal makeup differently, so with greater knowledge of each type of neurological make up we are in a period of transition to better utilises different neurotribes strengths.