Neuro-Developmental & Psychiatric Disorders and An IQ over 70

For people with neuro-developmental & psychiatric disorders and an IQ over 70 ---

• I would submit they need pretty much the same things as people with an Intellectual Disability and IQ under 70 ---
  • But tailored to their specific higher intellectual needs

The American Psychiatric Association lists the following needs for people with Intellectual Disability --- I'm adding some of the MODIFICATIONS I think need to be there for Neuro-Diverse People with an IQ Over 70:

• Early intervention (infants and toddlers).
• Special education.
  • Providing Specialized Educational Support for "gifted"/asynchronous kids is at least theoretically recognized in Education.
• Family support (for example, respite care support groups for families).
  • I remember my parents saying, "Someday Val you're gonna have children of your own and we will be laughing in the background."
  • School Psychologist Cait Curley makes the important point that these kids are NOT EASY TO RAISE.  [ Asynchronous Development & the Gifted Child ]
  • See Also Asynchrony, Integrative Thinking & The Need for A Third Alternative
• Transition services from childhood to adulthood.
  • I'm 60 years old and some of the Senior Neuro-Diverse People I'm running into could use those TRANSITION SERVICES ---NOW.
    • Couldn't we all.
• Vocational programs
  • This is a HUGE ISSUE
  • For Neuro-Diverse People with an IQ over 70-- you have to INCLUDE THEM in the STRUCTURE & DESIGN ---
    • Because they may be "SMARTER" than anybody in the room
    • Even if they are struggling with
      • Short Term Memory
      • Sensory Processing Issues
      • Organization
      • Emotional Regulation
      • Etc.
    • BUT DON"T MAKE THEM MINI OR LARGE-SCALE DICTATORS
      • Even if they think they are BENEVOLENT, they generally aren't.
• Day programs for adults.
• Housing and residential options.
• Case management.

Our Mental Health Crisis and our Addiction Crisis are putting into HIGH RELIEF that Neuro-Diversity is becoming much more the NORM than the EXCEPTION.

Further, I think DEVELOPMENTAL INFLAMMATION DRIVES IT --- BUT that can be many things and many combinations of things.

The Society has largely thought it didn't need to make ACCOMMODATIONS or WORK-AROUNDS or EXPLICIT GUARD-RAILS for Neuro-Diverse People with an IQ over 70:

• that just hasn't turned out to be the case
  
• further we've been using Unconscious Bias, Hierarchy and our spoken and unspoken CASTE SYSTEM to manage ---
• a great deal of HUMAN COMPLEXITY
• See also Isabel Wilkerson's "Caste -- The Origins of our Discontents"
  

The Bottom Line is it IS WORSE TO BE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SOCIAL HEAP:

• But if we're NOT CAREFUL --- we're just playing MUSICAL CHAIRS
  • That's becoming very obvious to a lot of people in 2023.
    
• "EQUALITY" is part of the WAY OUT
  • But we're NOT CLONES
  • Equality of What?
    • What works for me --- doesn't work for others --
    • And what works for them --- doesn't work for me.