The Enneagram and Neurodiversity

One of the coolest things I got to do in 2020 was be a guest panelist at an event on “The Enneagram and Neurodiversity” for Taylor University’s SEND (Students for Education on Neurodiversity) organization. According to their mission statement, the club is “dedicated to ending neurodiversity stigma and encouraging good mental health.” What a wonderful group to have on a college campus! I could have benefited from such a club when I was in school, and I’m such a fan of these students, their faculty advisor/my friend Daniel Bowman, Jr. and their work together.

I’ve learned a lot since this panel took place––about my own neurodivergences and about the intersections of the Enneagram with the neurodiversity paradigm more broadly. I plan to share more about that in the near future. For now, you can watch the panel with SEND, Daniel Bowman, Jr., Drew Moser, and me in the video below:

What is neurodiversity?

It is a term that was originally coined by Australian sociologist, Judy Singer, in the late-1990s. Merriam-Webster now defines it in these ways:

1: individual differences in brain functioning regarded as normal variations within the human population

2: the concept that differences in brain functioning within the human population are normal and that brain functioning that is not neurotypical should not be stigmatized

3: the inclusion in a group, organization, etc. of people with different types of brain functioning

Neurodiversity doesn’t deny the existence of disabilities or the real challenges that things like autism, ADHD, high-sensitivity, mood disorders, anxiety, giftedness, and other neuro-types can involve. But it leans heavily on the social model of disability rather than the medical or deficit model––pointing out that often what presents the most challenges for people with differences in brain functioning is not the difference or disability itself, but rather the attitudes and structures of a society that stigmatize them.

Sometimes it’s easiest to illustrate this first with an example of physical disability. If someone uses a wheelchair, many of their challenges don’t stem from the fact that they rely on a chair for mobility, but rather that so many public spaces are not designed with them in mind. In an environment tailored to their needs, they can and do thrive. The same goes for people who are neurodivergent.

Thomas Armstrong, PhD. said it this way for the AMA Journal of Ethics in 2015:

Embracing the concept of neurodiversity would bring the study of mental health disorders in line with movements that have already taken place over the past 50 years around biodiversity and cultural diversity [28, 29]. As Harvey Blume noted, “Neurodiversity may be every bit as crucial for the human race as biodiversity is for life in general. Who can say what form of wiring will prove best at any given moment?” How absurd it would be to label a calla lily as having “petal deficit disorder” or to diagnose a person from Holland as suffering from “altitude deprivation syndrome.” There is no normal flower or culture. Similarly, we ought to accept the fact that there is no normal brain or mind. Continue reading.

Order the book

*Updated Jan. 4, 2022

Interested in learning more? I’m so excited about my friend Dan’s book ON THE SPECTRUM: AUTISM, FAITH, & THE GIFTS OF NEURODIVERSITY. You can order it here or anywhere books are sold.

Daniel Bowman, Jr. is Associate Professor of English at Taylor University, Editor-in-Chief of Relief: A Journal of Art & Faith, and faculty advisor to Students for Education on Neurodiversity (SEND). He is the author of A Plum Tree in Leatherstocking Country and On the Spectrum: Autism, Faith, & the Gifts of Neurodiversity.