Neurodiversity 101: the benefits of positive divergence/deviance

Why do we love a bell curve?

Before the early 19th century, the word ‘normal’ was not applied to human beings at all. It was a mathematical term, meaning a right angle. The concept of normal emerged in Belgium in 1835. Adolphe Quetelet, a 39-year-old astronomer and statistician, started to compare different human characteristics within the population to create an average. After capturing thousands of measures of height he plotted this out and it produced a bell-shaped curve.

Quetelet in 1842 wrote in the preface in his book relating to 'social physics' "A Treatise on Man". He said that: ‘[E]very quality, taken within suitable limits, is essentially good; it is only in its extreme deviations from the mean that it becomes bad.’

The view of the ‘average man’ being the ideal human being, in body, mind and behaviour started to generate the view regarding deviance too. When everything is designed for someone of average height, from the length of a bed to the height of a table, then this average man inevitably becomes the ideal human within that society.

The ‘normal distribution’ (as it became known) was popularised by the mathematicians Carl Friedrich Gauss ( sometimes called a Gaussian curve) again this approach was used by astronomers.

What do we mean when we say someone diverges from a social norm or is deviant?

We immediately think of this is a very negative framing.

How often do we consider positive deviance or divergence?

Someone wrote to me recently about their personal experiences and made me think so much about society's framing of what is deemed as normality:

"My differences are not understood - how can someone understand that another person's experiences of the world are radically different to their own - when that person looks 'normal’.

Colleagues need to be taught about how neurodivergent people experience the world - and the challenges 'normal' workplace environments and practices present"

Reading Todd Rose's wonderful books "Collective Illusions" and the End of Average have made me also consider this further.

What is deviance or divergence?

The study of deviance is not new and can be traced back to American sociological theories such as from Emile Durkheim (1895) and others who argued that deviance serves an important function in the maintenance of social order and control. Durkheim believed that society exerted a powerful force on individuals. According to him, people's norms, beliefs, and values make up a collective consciousness, or a shared way of understanding and behaving in the world.

The concept of “deviance” has been defined by others negatively, as any violation of norms (Dodge 1985), be it an attitude, behaviour, or condition (Adler and Adler, 2011).

Social norms

This refers to a set of rules and regulations of a specific setting that govern how people behave, such as social and situational expectations. This has a cultural and social bias. It does vary over time. By deciding someone is deviant or disordered we set people apart from others. This othering from the mainstream is how people have conceptualised deviation as being a negative concept.

Let me describe the social impact of being seen as 'negatively deviant'....

If we think about height and weight bell curves we know there is a relationship with nutritional status and growth. Positive growth has a social bias.

What about literacy skills and poverty? Poor literacy skills puts people at extreme risk of social exclusion. There is extensive research shows that people with poor literacy skills are significantly more likely to experience poverty, live in poor quality housing, be unemployed, become a perpetrator or victim of crime, have poor physical and mental health. This is a distorted bell curve.

The point I am making is that we don't choose to deviate from a social norm but society does that for us....

What is positive deviance or divergence?

The bell curve is not a flat line but extends outwards in two directions.

Wilkins was one of the first people in 1964 to draw attention to both ends of the curve and consider the strengths that some people have as well as the challenges. The middle only represents the 'average' ...( see previous newsletter)

Positive deviance is based on the observation that in every community there are certain individuals or groups whose 'uncommon behaviour' and strategies enable them to find better solutions to problems than their peers. The way they see the world may be different but it can end up with creating and finding novel solutions to problems that others can't even imagine!

You may want to read an excellent review about this from Herington and van de Fliert.

They describe positive deviance as a way of looking for:

“champions” for change— outliers who succeed against all odds. It is a method of social inquiry grounded on the premise that in every community there are certain individuals or groups whose uncommon behavior and strategies enable them to find better solutions to the same problems facing their peers. The unique point of departure of the positive deviance strategy relative to other, problem-based means of social inquiry is its focus on the successful exceptions, rather than the failing norm."

When we consider this in terms of neurodiversity by understanding what or who has helped someone thrive in education or the workplace we can learn a lot. When we understand those who solve problems in a unique and often very different way we can also learn a lot we can bring back into the middle ground of society. Looking out at our edges in the future may be even more important than continuing to drive through the middle of the road. Sometimes you will find wonderful things you could never have imagined.

What I love about the 'positive deviance' approach is that it is an asset-based, problem-solving approach.

The gains we see from having different thinking is all about rule-breaking practices that deliver positively attributed outcome.If the neurodivergent community work together and share how we can truly listen to ND people with lived experience, I think then we can discover a lot of examples of successful behaviours and strategies. These can be considered for the education and the workplace. This will deliver an evidenced based plan of action which can then more widely promoted for adoption. 

Embracing neurodiversity means we can learn more and do more and have a greater impact on social change across society and globally.

We don't want to flatten the bell curve as that is not possible but we do want to recognise the wonderful diversity of mankind and celebrate this and ensure everyone has an opportunity to be their best self.

The blog author

I am Amanda Kirby, CEO of Do-IT Solutions a tech-for-good company that delivers web-based screening tools and training that help 1000s of people deliver person-centered solutions relating to neurodiversity and wellbeing. Contact me if you want to discuss how we can help your organisation.

I am a mixed bag of experiences and skills and have 25+ years of working in the field of neurodiversity.

I am a medical doctor, Professor, and have a Ph.D. in the field of neurodiversity; parent and grandparent to neurodivergent wonderful kids and am neurodivergent myself ( bits of me I share!).

Theo Smith and I wrote together the award-winning book Neurodiversity at Work Drive Innovation, Performance and Productivity with a Neurodiverse Workforce. Theo and I have a weekly blog neurodiversi-TEA with a roundup of the week.

My 10th book has come out called Neurodiversity in Education and I am very excited about sharing that with you. Thanks to my wonderful co-authors Paul Ellis and Abby Osbourne.

Please do read the Neurodiversity Index from City and Guilds Foundation and Do-IT Solutions.

Digest it, Act on it.