Aspie Answers · Clear Language · Neurodiversity · Inclusion
Neurodiversity Glossary & Definitions
Browse clear explanations of words and phrases used across neurodiversity, neurodivergence, autism, ADHD, AuDHD, sensory processing, communication, executive function, learning, identity, accessibility, support and everyday life. This glossary is designed as a starting point for understanding language — not as a rulebook for how every person must describe themselves.
Gentle notice
Some definitions touch burnout, meltdown, shutdown, anxiety, exclusion or other experiences that can feel personal. You can hide sensitive terms at any time. Take the page at your own pace and use only what is useful to you.
Language, identity & preference
Some people prefer identity-first language such as “autistic person”; others prefer person-first language or different terminology. Community language, professional language and preferred wording also change over time. Respectful language begins with listening to individual preference.
Clinical, educational and legal meanings can differ
Terms can have specific meanings in diagnostic criteria, education systems, disability law or services. Those meanings may vary between New Zealand and other countries. These are educational summaries rather than personalised medical or legal advice.
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A
AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication)
Communication methods that supplement or replace speech, including communication boards, symbols, typing and speech-generating devices.
Explore AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) →Access need
A practical support, condition or change that helps a person use information, environments, services, learning or work more effectively.
Explore Access need →Accessibility
Designing environments, information, technology and services so people with different needs can use and participate in them.
Explore Accessibility →Accommodation / Adjustment
A change to an environment, process, communication method or expectation that reduces an access-related barrier.
Explore Accommodation / Adjustment →ADHD
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a neurodevelopmental condition that can affect attention, activity, impulse control, motivation, working memory and executive function.
Explore ADHD →Advocacy
Speaking up or taking action so a person’s needs, rights, access barriers or perspective are heard and considered.
Explore Advocacy →Allistic
A community term for a person who is not autistic.
Explore Allistic →Autism
A lifelong neurodevelopmental difference involving patterns of communication, sensory processing, interests, routines and ways of experiencing the world that vary widely between people.
Explore Autism →Autistic
An identity-first adjective used by many autistic people. Language preference varies between individuals.
Explore Autistic →Autistic burnout
A state of profound exhaustion and reduced functioning associated with prolonged stress, masking, demands and mismatch between needs and environment.
Explore Autistic burnout →AuDHD
A community term commonly used by people who are both autistic and ADHD.
Explore AuDHD →Autonomy
A person’s right and ability to make meaningful choices about their own life, with support if they want or need it.
Explore Autonomy →Ableism
Prejudice, discrimination, attitudes or systems that disadvantage disabled people or treat non-disabled ways of living as the default.
Explore Ableism →Acceptance
Respecting neurodivergent people as they are while still taking access needs, disability and individual support needs seriously.
Explore Acceptance →Alexithymia
Difficulty identifying, distinguishing or describing emotions. It can occur in neurodivergent and non-neurodivergent people.
Explore Alexithymia →Assessment
A process used to gather information about strengths, difficulties, development, functioning or support needs. Clinical and educational assessments serve different purposes.
Explore Assessment →Assistive technology
Devices, software or tools that support communication, learning, organisation, mobility, access or participation.
Explore Assistive technology →Attention regulation
The processes involved in directing, sustaining, shifting and disengaging attention. Attention can be variable or interest-based for some neurodivergent people.
Explore Attention regulation →Auditory sensitivity
Heightened sensitivity to sound, including volume, pitch, repetition, background noise or sudden noises.
Explore Auditory sensitivity →B
Barrier
Something in an environment, system, attitude or communication process that makes access or participation harder.
Explore Barrier →Belonging
Feeling accepted, respected and able to participate as a genuine member of a group, community or environment.
Explore Belonging →Body signals
Internal sensory information such as hunger, thirst, temperature, pain or heartbeat, often discussed in relation to interoception.
Explore Body signals →Burnout
Deep exhaustion and reduced capacity after prolonged stress or demands; autistic burnout can have a distinct pattern and context.
Explore Burnout →Behaviour as communication
The idea that actions can reflect needs, distress, sensory load, communication barriers or unmet support needs rather than being understood only as deliberate behaviour.
Explore Behaviour as communication →Body doubling
Doing a task alongside another person, in person or remotely, to support starting, focus or follow-through.
Explore Body doubling →Bottom-up processing
Building understanding from incoming details or sensory information before forming a broader interpretation. Processing patterns vary across people and tasks.
Explore Bottom-up processing →C
Camouflaging
Consciously or unconsciously changing or hiding behaviours and traits in order to fit expectations or avoid negative responses.
Explore Camouflaging →Co-design
Designing resources, systems, services or policies together with the people who will use or be affected by them.
Explore Co-design →Co-occurring condition
A condition or diagnosis that exists alongside another condition, such as anxiety alongside autism or ADHD.
Explore Co-occurring condition →Co-regulation
Using safe connection, shared support or another person’s presence to help regulation, calm or recovery.
Explore Co-regulation →Communication access
Having enough time, format choices, language clarity and communication options to understand and express information.
Explore Communication access →Communication partner
A person who supports communication by listening, allowing time and respecting another person’s chosen communication method.
Explore Communication partner →Cognitive accessibility
Designing information, systems and environments so they are easier to understand, navigate, remember and use for people with different cognitive and processing needs.
Explore Cognitive accessibility →Cognitive load
The amount of mental effort being used at one time. High cognitive load can make processing, memory, communication or decision-making harder.
Explore Cognitive load →Communication differences
Different ways of understanding, expressing and exchanging information, including speech, writing, AAC, gesture and other methods.
Explore Communication differences →Compensation strategy
A learned method for working around a difficulty, such as using routines, scripts, reminders, technology or external structure.
Explore Compensation strategy →Consent
Freely given, informed and ongoing agreement. Communication access and supported decision-making may be important for making consent meaningful.
Explore Consent →Context switching
Moving attention and mental set from one task, topic, environment or set of expectations to another.
Explore Context switching →D
Demand avoidance
Difficulty responding to demands, expectations or loss of autonomy; reasons and patterns can vary between people.
Explore Demand avoidance →Diagnosis
A formal clinical identification based on recognised criteria, history and assessment.
Explore Diagnosis →Dyscalculia
A learning difference that can affect understanding or working with numbers, quantities and mathematical concepts.
Explore Dyscalculia →Dysgraphia
A term used for significant difficulties with written expression or handwriting-related skills; definitions vary between countries and systems.
Explore Dysgraphia →Dyslexia
A learning difference that commonly affects accurate or fluent reading, spelling and decoding.
Explore Dyslexia →Dyspraxia / Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD)
A developmental condition affecting motor coordination and the learning or performance of movement-based tasks.
Explore Dyspraxia / Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) →Developmental disability
A broad term used in some countries and systems for disabilities beginning during development and affecting everyday functioning. Definitions vary by jurisdiction.
Explore Developmental disability →Diagnostic criteria
The formal features and requirements used within a diagnostic system to decide whether a diagnosis applies.
Explore Diagnostic criteria →Direct communication
Communication that makes meaning, expectations or requests explicit rather than relying heavily on hints, inference or unwritten rules.
Explore Direct communication →Disability
A broad term that can describe impairments or conditions and the barriers that limit participation. Different models of disability emphasise different aspects.
Explore Disability →Double empathy problem
A theory proposing that communication difficulties between autistic and non-autistic people can arise from differences in experience and mutual understanding rather than a one-sided lack of empathy.
Explore Double empathy problem →Dynamic disability
A community term used when disability, access needs or functional capacity vary over time or between environments.
Explore Dynamic disability →E
Echolalia
Repeating words or phrases heard previously. It can serve communication, regulation, processing, enjoyment or other functions.
Explore Echolalia →Emotional regulation
Processes involved in noticing, understanding and responding to emotions.
Explore Emotional regulation →Executive dysfunction
Difficulty with starting, organising, switching, remembering or completing tasks even when a person understands what needs to happen.
Explore Executive dysfunction →Executive function
Mental processes involved in planning, organising, remembering steps, managing time, shifting attention and regulating actions.
Explore Executive function →Empathy differences
Differences in how empathy is experienced, interpreted or expressed. Communication style alone is not a reliable measure of whether someone cares about others.
Explore Empathy differences →Energy accounting
Tracking activities that use or restore energy to support pacing, planning and recovery. The method can be adapted to the individual.
Explore Energy accounting →Energy management
Planning activity, rest and recovery around available energy rather than assuming capacity stays the same every day.
Explore Energy management →Environmental fit
How well an environment matches a person’s sensory, communication, executive-function and participation needs.
Explore Environmental fit →Executive-function support
An external strategy, tool or environmental change that reduces demands on planning, memory, organisation, switching or task initiation.
Explore Executive-function support →F
Fatigue
Physical, cognitive, emotional or sensory exhaustion that can affect attention, movement, communication and daily functioning.
Explore Fatigue →Fluctuating capacity
A person’s ability to manage tasks, communication or demands changing over time or between situations.
Explore Fluctuating capacity →Focus
The direction and intensity of attention. Neurodivergent attention may be variable, interest-based or difficult to shift.
Explore Focus →Fidgeting
Small repeated movements or use of objects that may support attention, sensory regulation or comfort.
Explore Fidgeting →Flexible thinking
The ability to consider alternatives, adapt to change or shift approach. Flexibility can be affected by stress, uncertainty and executive-function demands.
Explore Flexible thinking →Flow state
A period of deep engagement in an activity where attention feels highly absorbed. Flow is not unique to neurodivergence.
Explore Flow state →Friendship
A social relationship based on connection, trust or shared interest. Neurodivergent friendships may involve different communication, energy and contact patterns.
Explore Friendship →Functioning labels
Labels such as “high-functioning” or “low-functioning.” Many people avoid them because they can oversimplify changing abilities, support needs and context.
Explore Functioning labels →G
Giftedness
High ability or advanced performance in one or more areas; giftedness can coexist with disability or neurodivergence.
Explore Giftedness →Gender diversity & neurodivergence
The intersection of gender identity and neurodivergence. One does not determine the other, and respectful self-described language matters.
Explore Gender diversity & neurodivergence →Generalisation
Using a skill or understanding learned in one context in another context. Generalisation can require explicit support for some learners.
Explore Generalisation →Gestalt language processing
A framework used by some clinicians and communities to describe language learned or used in larger chunks or phrases. Terminology and evidence around the framework continue to be discussed.
Explore Gestalt language processing →Grounding
A broad term for strategies that help a person reconnect with the present moment, body or environment. Helpful approaches vary between people.
Explore Grounding →H
Hyperfocus
A period of intense attention on an activity or interest that can make switching or noticing other needs difficult.
Explore Hyperfocus →Hypersensitivity
Heightened sensitivity to sensory input such as sound, light, touch, smell, taste or movement.
Explore Hypersensitivity →Hyposensitivity
Reduced awareness or response to some sensory input, sometimes leading a person to seek stronger or more frequent input.
Explore Hyposensitivity →Hyperactivity
A pattern of high activity, movement, restlessness or internal mental activity that can be part of ADHD and can look different across people.
Explore Hyperactivity →Hyperarousal
A state of increased nervous-system activation that can involve restlessness, heightened alertness or difficulty settling. It is not specific to neurodivergence.
Explore Hyperarousal →Hyperlexia
Advanced or intense interest in reading or decoding words relative to other areas of development. Comprehension and support needs can vary.
Explore Hyperlexia →I
Identity-first language
Language that places an identity before the person, such as “autistic person” or “disabled person”. Many people prefer it, while others do not.
Explore Identity-first language →Inclusive design
Designing environments, information and systems for a wide range of people from the beginning.
Explore Inclusive design →Inclusion
Actively reducing barriers and creating conditions where people can participate, contribute and belong.
Explore Inclusion →Interoception
The sensory system involved in noticing internal body signals such as hunger, thirst, pain or heartbeat.
Explore Interoception →Intersectionality
A way of understanding how multiple identities and social factors overlap and shape experiences of access, advantage or discrimination.
Explore Intersectionality →Impulsivity
Acting or responding quickly with less time between an impulse and action. It can be part of ADHD and varies across people and situations.
Explore Impulsivity →Inertia
Difficulty starting, stopping or changing an activity or state even when the person wants to make the transition.
Explore Inertia →Information processing
How information is noticed, organised, interpreted, stored and responded to across sensory, language and cognitive tasks.
Explore Information processing →Interdependence
A way of living that recognises people can both give and receive support rather than treating complete independence as the only goal.
Explore Interdependence →Internalised ableism
Ableist beliefs or expectations that a disabled person may absorb from society and apply to themselves.
Explore Internalised ableism →J
Job accommodation
A workplace change that reduces barriers, such as communication adjustments, sensory changes, flexible scheduling or task supports.
Explore Job accommodation →Job coaching
Practical employment support that may help with job tasks, routines, communication, workplace expectations or transitions.
Explore Job coaching →Job transition
A change such as starting, changing or leaving a job that can involve new routines, environments, expectations and support needs.
Explore Job transition →Joint attention
Shared attention between people toward an object, activity or event. People can show shared attention in different ways, not only through eye contact.
Explore Joint attention →K
Key word signing
Using selected manual signs alongside speech or other communication to support understanding and expression.
Explore Key word signing →Kinesthetic / kinaesthetic learning
Learning that includes movement, doing or hands-on practice. It can be useful for some tasks without implying that a person has one fixed learning style.
Explore Kinesthetic / kinaesthetic learning →Knowledge access
Being able to find, understand and use information in formats that match communication, processing and accessibility needs.
Explore Knowledge access →L
Late diagnosis
Receiving a diagnosis later in adolescence or adulthood, sometimes after years of masking, misunderstanding or unmet needs.
Explore Late diagnosis →Learning difference
A broad term describing differences in how a person learns, processes or expresses information.
Explore Learning difference →Lived experience
Knowledge and perspective gained through personally experiencing neurodivergence, disability, services or access barriers.
Explore Lived experience →Low-stim
Designed to reduce sensory load, visual clutter, movement, noise or other stimulation.
Explore Low-stim →Language preference
The words a person prefers for describing neurodivergence, disability and identity. Preferences differ between individuals and communities.
Explore Language preference →Learning disability
A term whose meaning varies internationally. In some systems it refers to intellectual disability; elsewhere it may be used more broadly for specific learning conditions.
Explore Learning disability →Learning support
Strategies, adjustments, teaching approaches or services that reduce barriers to learning and participation.
Explore Learning support →Literal language
Language understood close to its direct or surface meaning. Figurative, implied or ambiguous language may require extra context for some people.
Explore Literal language →Low-demand approach
An approach that reduces unnecessary pressure, increases collaboration or choice, and adjusts demands to current capacity and context.
Explore Low-demand approach →Load management
Adjusting sensory, cognitive, social, emotional or practical demands to reduce overload and support sustainable participation.
Explore Load management →M
Masking
Changing, suppressing or hiding traits or behaviours to appear more typical or to avoid negative judgement.
Explore Masking →Meltdown
An intense involuntary response to overwhelm or overload that can involve loss of usual coping or communication capacity.
Explore Meltdown →Monotropism
A theory describing a tendency toward deeply concentrated attention on a smaller number of interests or demands at a time, often discussed in relation to autism.
Explore Monotropism →Motor coordination
The organisation and control of body movements needed for everyday tasks, learning and participation.
Explore Motor coordination →Motor planning
Planning and organising body movements needed to complete an action or sequence of actions.
Explore Motor planning →Motivation regulation
The processes involved in starting and sustaining effort. Motivation can be influenced by interest, reward, urgency, energy, executive function and environment.
Explore Motivation regulation →Movement need
A need or preference for movement that may support alertness, regulation, comfort or concentration.
Explore Movement need →Mutual understanding
Shared understanding built through accessible communication, clarification and respect for different perspectives.
Explore Mutual understanding →N
Neuroaffirming
An approach that respects neurodivergent ways of thinking, communicating and regulating while supporting real needs.
Explore Neuroaffirming →Neurodivergence
A broad concept describing brains or nervous systems that differ from dominant or typical patterns.
Explore Neurodivergence →Neurodivergent
An adjective commonly used for a person whose brain or nervous system differs from dominant or typical patterns.
Explore Neurodivergent →Neurodiversity
The natural variation in human brains and nervous systems across the population.
Explore Neurodiversity →Neurotypical
A term often used for people whose neurological development and functioning broadly fit dominant expectations; definitions vary by context.
Explore Neurotypical →Non-speaking
A term for someone who does not use speech, or uses very limited speech, and may communicate through AAC, typing, gesture or other methods.
Explore Non-speaking →Needs-led support
Support organised around the person’s actual needs, barriers and goals rather than relying only on a diagnostic label.
Explore Needs-led support →Neurodevelopmental condition
A broad clinical category for conditions involving development of the brain or nervous system, including autism and ADHD.
Explore Neurodevelopmental condition →Neurodiversity paradigm
A framework that understands neurological variation as part of human diversity while still recognising disability, barriers and support needs.
Explore Neurodiversity paradigm →Neuroplasticity
The nervous system’s capacity to change through development, learning and experience. It is a general human process, not a synonym for neurodiversity.
Explore Neuroplasticity →Neurotype
An informal umbrella term used to describe a person’s neurological profile or way of processing and experiencing the world.
Explore Neurotype →O
Overload
A state in which sensory, emotional, cognitive or environmental demands exceed a person’s current capacity to process them comfortably.
Explore Overload →Overwhelm
Feeling that demands, information, emotions or tasks have become too much to manage at that moment.
Explore Overwhelm →Occupational therapy
A health profession that can support participation in everyday activities, routines, environments, sensory needs and practical skills. Approaches vary by practitioner and setting.
Explore Occupational therapy →Organisational support
An external system such as a checklist, calendar, reminder, visual schedule or structured workspace that reduces planning and memory load.
Explore Organisational support →Overstimulation
An informal term for feeling overloaded by sensory, cognitive, social or environmental input.
Explore Overstimulation →P
Pacing
Balancing activity, demands and recovery around available energy and capacity.
Explore Pacing →Pathological Demand Avoidance / PDA terminology
A contested term used by some clinicians and communities for a persistent demand-avoidant profile; recognition and wording vary internationally.
Explore Pathological Demand Avoidance / PDA terminology →Person-first language
Language that places the person before a diagnosis or disability, such as “person with autism”. Preferences vary between individuals and communities.
Explore Person-first language →Processing time
The time a person needs to understand information, organise a response or shift between tasks or ideas.
Explore Processing time →Proprioception
The sense that helps the brain understand body position, movement and force.
Explore Proprioception →Participation
Being able to take part meaningfully in learning, work, services, relationships or community life.
Explore Participation →Peer support
Support from people who share relevant lived experience or identity.
Explore Peer support →Planning
The executive-function process of deciding what needs to happen, in what order, and what resources or time may be needed.
Explore Planning →Predictability
Knowing what to expect about events, routines, communication or changes. Predictability can reduce uncertainty and planning load for some people.
Explore Predictability →Pressure sensitivity
A descriptive phrase for situations where urgency, observation, demands or perceived pressure make thinking, communication or task initiation harder.
Explore Pressure sensitivity →Prosody
The rhythm, stress, pitch and intonation of speech. Prosody can vary naturally across speakers and neurotypes.
Explore Prosody →Q
Quality of life
A broad concept describing wellbeing across areas such as health, autonomy, relationships, safety, participation and everyday living.
Explore Quality of life →Questions & clarification
Asking for examples, rewording, written information or more context when communication or expectations are unclear.
Explore Questions & clarification →Queer & neurodivergent identities
LGBTQIA+ and neurodivergent identities can intersect in individual ways, shaping belonging, access and lived experience without one identity causing the other.
Explore Queer & neurodivergent identities →R
Reasonable adjustment
A change intended to remove or reduce a disability-related barrier in work, education or services; legal definitions vary by jurisdiction.
Explore Reasonable adjustment →Regulation
Processes that help a person manage sensory input, emotions, attention, arousal and activity so they can function more comfortably.
Explore Regulation →Recovery time
Time and reduced demands that may be needed after sensory, social, cognitive or emotional exertion.
Explore Recovery time →Rejection sensitivity
A community term often used for intense distress around perceived or actual rejection or criticism. “RSD” is not a standalone formal diagnosis.
Explore Rejection sensitivity →Repetitive movement
Repeated movement that may support regulation, sensory needs, expression or focus. It can overlap with stimming.
Explore Repetitive movement →Rest as support
Recognising rest, lower-demand time and recovery as legitimate supports for energy, regulation and sustainable participation.
Explore Rest as support →Routine
A predictable sequence or pattern that can support organisation, memory, regulation and a sense of control.
Explore Routine →S
Self-advocacy
Communicating your own needs, preferences, rights and choices, with or without support.
Explore Self-advocacy →Sensory overload
Distress or reduced functioning when sensory input becomes more intense or numerous than a person can comfortably process.
Explore Sensory overload →Sensory processing
How the nervous system receives, organises and responds to sensory information.
Explore Sensory processing →Sensory seeking
Actively looking for or enjoying additional sensory input such as movement, pressure, sound or texture.
Explore Sensory seeking →Shutdown
A reduced-response state that can occur during overload or exhaustion and may involve less speech, movement, decision-making or interaction.
Explore Shutdown →Special interest
A deep, focused interest that may bring joy, knowledge, identity, regulation, skill or connection.
Explore Special interest →Stimming
Repetitive movements, sounds, words or actions that may support regulation, expression, focus or sensory needs.
Explore Stimming →Strengths-based approach
An approach that recognises abilities, interests and resources while still acknowledging genuine barriers and support needs.
Explore Strengths-based approach →Supported decision-making
An approach in which a person receives the support they need to understand options and make their own decisions.
Explore Supported decision-making →Scripted language
Words or phrases learned and reused in familiar forms. Scripts can support communication, processing, predictability or regulation.
Explore Scripted language →Self-determination
Having meaningful control over choices and decisions about one’s own life, with support when wanted or needed.
Explore Self-determination →Sensory accommodation
A change that reduces sensory barriers, such as quieter spaces, lighting adjustments, movement options or permission to use sensory supports.
Explore Sensory accommodation →Sensory profile
The individual pattern of sensory sensitivities, preferences, seeking, avoidance and regulation needs a person may experience.
Explore Sensory profile →Social communication
The ways people use and interpret language, tone, gesture, timing, context and social information. Styles differ across people and cultures.
Explore Social communication →Social model of disability
A framework emphasising that disability is created or increased by barriers in environments, systems and attitudes, not only by an individual condition.
Explore Social model of disability →Speech difference
A difference in speech production, fluency, volume, prosody or spoken-language use that may affect communication access.
Explore Speech difference →T
Task initiation
The executive-function process involved in starting a task, even when the person understands what needs to be done.
Explore Task initiation →Time blindness
A community term for difficulty sensing, estimating or managing the passage of time.
Explore Time blindness →Tourette syndrome
A neurodevelopmental condition characterised by multiple motor tics and at least one vocal tic over time.
Explore Tourette syndrome →Transitions
Moving between activities, places, expectations or states. Transitions can require extra preparation or recovery.
Explore Transitions →Twice-exceptional / 2e
A term commonly used for people who are both gifted and disabled or neurodivergent.
Explore Twice-exceptional / 2e →Task switching
Moving attention and action from one task to another, which can require additional executive-function effort and transition time.
Explore Task switching →Tic
A sudden, repetitive movement or sound that can occur in tic disorders and Tourette syndrome. Tics can vary in frequency and intensity.
Explore Tic →Top-down processing
Using prior knowledge, expectations or context to interpret incoming information. People use different balances of top-down and bottom-up processing.
Explore Top-down processing →Transition support
Preparation, information, time or practical assistance that helps a person move between activities, places, roles or life stages.
Explore Transition support →Trauma-informed support
Support that aims to recognise the possible effects of trauma, prioritise safety and choice, and avoid unnecessary re-traumatisation. It is not a substitute for specialist trauma care.
Explore Trauma-informed support →U
Universal design
Designing environments, products, information or services so they are usable by as many people as possible from the outset.
Explore Universal design →Unmasking
Reducing the need to hide or suppress neurodivergent traits in safer, more accepting contexts.
Explore Unmasking →Understimulation
A state in which available sensory or cognitive input feels insufficient for alertness, engagement or regulation.
Explore Understimulation →Uneven / spiky skill profile
A pattern where strengths and difficulties vary significantly across different skills rather than forming one even level of ability.
Explore Uneven / spiky skill profile →Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
A framework for designing learning with multiple ways to engage, access information and demonstrate learning.
Explore Universal Design for Learning (UDL) →V
Visual support
Pictures, symbols, schedules, written steps or other visual information that can support understanding, memory and predictability.
Explore Visual support →Variable attention
Attention that changes with interest, environment, energy, novelty, urgency or task demands rather than staying constant.
Explore Variable attention →Verbal processing
Making sense of information through spoken language. Some people process spoken information more easily than others or need written support alongside it.
Explore Verbal processing →Vestibular system
The sensory system involved in balance, movement and spatial orientation.
Explore Vestibular system →Visual thinking
Thinking strongly through images, spatial relationships or visual patterns. It is one possible cognitive style rather than a universal neurodivergent trait.
Explore Visual thinking →Vocational support
Support related to employment, training, workplace access, job preparation and sustainable participation.
Explore Vocational support →W
Wellbeing
A broad sense of physical, emotional, social and everyday wellness.
Explore Wellbeing →Working memory
The ability to hold and use information briefly while completing a task or following steps.
Explore Working memory →Workplace inclusion
Practices that support fair participation at work through accessible recruitment, communication, adjustments and culture.
Explore Workplace inclusion →Waiting mode
An informal community phrase for difficulty starting other activities while anticipating a later appointment, event or transition.
Explore Waiting mode →Workplace accommodation
A change that reduces a disability-related workplace barrier, such as communication, sensory, scheduling or task adjustments.
Explore Workplace accommodation →Written communication
Using text, email, chat, notes or other written formats to exchange information. Written options can improve communication access for some people.
Explore Written communication →X
No strong core Neurodiversity glossary term is being forced into X. Use search or another letter to continue browsing.
Y
Young neurodivergent people
Children and teenagers whose neurological development or functioning differs from dominant expectations. Support should be age-appropriate and respect communication, identity and autonomy.
Explore Young neurodivergent people →Your neurodivergent profile
A non-clinical way to describe the individual combination of strengths, barriers, sensory patterns, communication preferences and support needs that matter to you.
Explore Your neurodivergent profile →Youth transition
A move from school into further education, training, employment or greater independence that may require planning, accessible information and support.
Explore Youth transition →Z
Zones of comfort / sensory safety
A non-clinical way to describe environments, routines and supports that help a person feel regulated enough to participate.
Explore Zones of comfort / sensory safety →Zoning out / attention lapse
An informal phrase for periods when attention drifts or awareness of the current task reduces. This can have many causes and is not specific to one diagnosis.
Explore Zoning out / attention lapse →
Key neurodiversity categories
Core concepts
Neurodiversity, neurodivergence, neurodivergent identity and the language used to describe neurological variation.
Autism, ADHD & AuDHD
Profiles, diagnoses, overlapping experiences, attention, regulation, masking and everyday life.
Sensory & regulation
Interoception, proprioception, sensory seeking, overload, stimming, regulation and sensory access.
Executive function
Planning, task initiation, working memory, time blindness, switching and organisational support.
Learning & education
Dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia/DCD, giftedness, learning differences and classroom access.
Identity, access & belonging
Language preference, inclusion, accommodations, accessibility, lived experience and community participation.
Language changes as communities and understanding evolve
Individual preference matters
There is no single preferred label for every neurodivergent person. Ask rather than assume when referring to an individual.
Community and clinical language differ
Words such as AuDHD, time blindness and masking may be common in communities even when they are not formal diagnostic labels.
Country context matters
Education, disability and diagnostic terminology can differ significantly between New Zealand and other countries.
Older resources may use older wording
Historical material can reflect the language of its time. That does not always mean the same wording is preferred today.
Debated terms need context
Some language, including PDA-related terminology, may be accepted in some settings and contested or unsupported in others.
Lived experience adds meaning
A definition can explain a word, but it cannot replace listening to how a person experiences their own mind, body and support needs.
Connected concepts
Neurodiversity ↔ Neurodivergence
Neurodiversity describes variation across people; neurodivergence is commonly used for neurological patterns that differ from dominant expectations.
Masking ↔ Unmasking
Masking describes hiding or altering traits; unmasking describes reducing that effort in safer and more accepting contexts.
Overload ↔ Regulation
Overload reflects demands exceeding current processing capacity; regulation describes processes that help the nervous system return toward a manageable state.
Accommodation ↔ Accessibility
An accommodation changes something for an individual; accessibility and inclusive design aim to reduce barriers more broadly.
Strengths ↔ Support needs
Abilities and support needs are not opposites. A person can have significant strengths and still need meaningful support.
Identity ↔ Diagnosis
A diagnosis can be useful for understanding and access, while identity describes the wider meaning a person gives to their experiences and sense of self.
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Can’t find the term you need?
This glossary is designed as a broad core reference, while language and terminology will still evolve over time. Try the wider Glossaries & Definitions Index or Neurodiversity Topics A–Z when you need a topic page rather than a short definition.
Living language · Reviewed September 2026
Clear words can support better understanding
Terminology changes, people have different preferences, and no short definition can describe a whole person. This glossary is here to make language easier to understand while keeping room for individual experience, context and choice.