Youth Hub Team
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Neuronormative
Neuronormative describes social environments, expectations, or practices that assume everyone’s brain works in the same way — usually aligned with neurotypical standards. It points to how education, workplaces, and everyday interactions often prioritise certain ways of thinking, communicating, or behaving, while overlooking or excluding neurodivergent people. By treating one way of processing the world as
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Neuroaffirming
Neuroaffirming means using approaches, language, and practices that respect and celebrate neurological differences instead of trying to fix them. It’s about affirming identity, supporting people as they are, and creating environments where neurodivergent people feel valued and safe. It’s centred around recognising and respecting the natural diversity of human minds, rather than trying to change
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Monotropism
Monotropism is a theory that autistic minds focus deeply on a small number of interests at a time, rather than spreading attention widely. This can make special interests powerful, but can also make switching tasks difficult. The theory was developed by autistic academics Dr Dinah Murray, Dr Wenn Lawson, and Mike Lesser, and it reframes
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Masking
Masking is when autistic people hide or change natural behaviours to fit in with non-autistic expectations. It can involve forcing eye contact, copying expressions, rehearsing social scripts, or suppressing stimming and sensory needs. Masking can sometimes help someone feel safer or avoid negative attention, but it often comes with a heavy cost—exhaustion, anxiety, burnout, loss
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Identity‑First Language
Identity‑first language places the identity before the person, such as autistic person. Many autistic people prefer this because it recognises autism as an integral part of identity, not something separate or negative. A brief history Identity‑first language gained traction in disability and autistic advocacy in the 1990s–2000s as a response to person‑first language. Advocates argued
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Person‑First Language
Person-first language places the person before the identity, such as “a person with autism.” It was created to emphasise humanity before diagnosis—and is often preferred in broader disability contexts as a way of affirming personhood and dignity—but many autistic people feel it separates them from their identity. A brief history Person-first language gained popularity in
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Non-Speaking
Non‑speaking describes people, often autistic, who do not use spoken words as their primary or reliable form of communication. It recognises that someone may communicate through typing, AAC (augmentative and alternative communication), writing, gestures, movement, expression, art, or other methods. It does not assume why someone doesn’t speak, nor does it imply anything about their ability to
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Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
AAC refers to any method of communication that supports or replaces speech. It includes things like communication boards, letterboards, symbol systems, sign languages, gestures, speech-generating devices, and text-based tools. AAC is used by people who are non-speaking, minimally speaking, intermittently speaking, or whose speech isn’t reliable for all situations. Many autistic people experience variations in
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Non-verbal
Non-verbal historically used to mean “doesn’t use words,” but the term is increasingly avoided because it implies no communication at all. Many “non-verbal” people communicate richly through Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), gestures, facial expression, movement, art, etc. A brief history “Non-verbal” became common in clinical and educational settings from the mid-20th century onwards, largely as
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Neurotypical
Neurotypical is a construct that describes people whose brain development and ways of thinking, learning, or interacting fit within societal expectations of “normal.” It refers to how the majority of people process the world, and whose experiences and needs are typically centred and assumed in everyday systems, education, and culture. A brief history The term emerged