The neurodiversity movement is vast and varied. It spans continents, cultures, and communities. It includes people who identify proudly with diagnostic labels, and others who reject them. It brings together advocates who argue through the lens of disability justice, those who highlight minority rights, those who call for a strengths-based framing, and those who fight stigma in education, employment, healthcare, and law.
Differences of opinion within such a broad movement are inevitable, and they can be healthy. But the question arises: how do we remain united when perspectives diverge?
The answer may lie in recognising a shared North Star. For neurodiversity, that guiding point can be summed up in one word: equality. Equality for neurominorities in every part of society; education, healthcare, employment, justice, and community life.
Unity Does Not Mean Uniformity
Unity does not require everyone to speak with the same voice or adopt the same framework. Just as biodiversity thrives through variation, the neurodiversity movement grows stronger when it contains multiple narratives, methods, and philosophies.
Some may choose a disability-rights framing to secure protections under law. Others may prefer identity-based or minority-rights frameworks that emphasise belonging and cultural pride. Still others may focus on innovation and strengths-based approaches to open opportunities in the workplace.
Each path has value. Each one chips away at exclusion from a different angle.
Together, they create a fuller, richer movement that cannot be reduced to a single perspective.
The Power of a Shared Goal
The key is remembering that all these efforts point toward the same horizon: equality. Whether we are lobbying for workplace adjustments, demanding fair access to healthcare, teaching teachers, rewriting research frameworks, or amplifying lived experience, the end goal remains the same:
- A world where neurominorities are not treated as problems to be solved but as people to be included.
- A society where barriers are dismantled so that differences are not disabling.
- A culture where belonging is a given, not a battle.
Unity Through Principles, Not Prescriptions
Movements fracture when unity is confused with conformity. Instead of demanding identical language or identical strategies, the neurodiversity movement can draw strength from a set of shared principles:
- Equality of worth – every mind has value.
- Inclusion by design – systems should accommodate, not exclude.
- Nothing about us without us – neurominorities must lead in shaping their own futures.
- Kindness and respect – disagreement can be principled, without becoming personal.
These principles allow for diversity of approach while protecting the integrity of the movement.
Walking Different Roads Together
Imagine the neurodiversity movement as a great network of paths. Some are straight and legalistic, carving routes through policy and law. Others are winding and cultural, reshaping how people see each other. Some are grassroots, built step by step by families, schools, and local communities. Others are global, reaching institutions like the UN or multinational companies.
Not all of us will walk the same path. Some will move faster, others slower. But if we are all oriented toward the same North Star of equality, we will move forward together.
A Call for Generous Unity
Unity requires generosity: the ability to hold space for different perspectives without labelling them as threats. It requires humility: the recognition that no single approach or framework can deliver equality on its own. And it requires courage: the willingness to keep walking together, even when the terrain gets rough.
The neurodiversity movement is not a monolith. It is a chorus.
And like all great choruses, its beauty lies in harmony, not uniformity. Our shared North Star is equality and equal prosperity for all. As long as we keep our eyes on that, many voices and many paths can still carry us forward as one.
By Professor Charlotte Valeur, Chair & Founder of ION Global
Charlotte is an investment banker, FTSE Chair, published author and professor in governance with a wealth of board experience across many industries and sectors.
A lifelong human rights advocate, Charlotte is driven to play her part in creating an inclusive society, advocating for equality and inclusion for all. To this effect she also founded the global Institute of Neurodiversity ION in 2020.
