When conversations about neurodiversity make the news or surface in workplaces and schools, the focus is overwhelmingly on children and young adults. Early intervention, education adjustments, employment access, and youth empowerment dominate the narrative. But one group remains largely invisible: the 65+ members of our community. Neurominorities in later life often find themselves overlooked, their stories erased by a system that frames neurodiversity as a “childhood condition” rather than a lifelong reality.

A Lifetime of Being Misunderstood

For many older autistic, ADHD, dyslexic, dyspraxic, or Tourette’s individuals, diagnosis was never an option in their formative years. Instead, they carried the weight of misunderstanding, often being told they were lazy, difficult, eccentric, or “too much.” The recognition of neurodiversity in education and healthcare only began to shift in the late 20th century, leaving generations to navigate without language, support, or community.

Today, in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, these individuals live with the consequences: untreated mental health challenges, fractured work histories, strained relationships, and in some cases, poverty or isolation. Their struggles are rarely recorded in the data, rarely referenced in research, and rarely represented in policy.

Invisibility by Design

Why are neurominorities over 65 invisible?

• Policy bias: Most neurodiversity policies and support schemes are designed for schools and workplaces, leaving older people out of scope.
• Medical erasure: Doctors and care providers often dismiss neurotype traits in older adults as “normal aging” or as symptoms of other conditions.
• Cultural stigma: Many grew up in a time when difference was punished or hidden. Even today, some feel unsafe disclosing their neurotype.
• Generational silencing: The assumption that neurodiversity “belongs to the young” makes it harder for elders to claim their place in the movement.

Later Life, Different Needs

The needs of older neurominorities are distinct and urgent:

• Healthcare: Understanding sensory sensitivities, executive function challenges, or communication differences is critical in medical and elder-care settings.
• Community: Loneliness is a known public health crisis in older populations. For neurominorities, who may already have lived on the margins, this is amplified.
• Housing & care homes: Traditional elder care environments are often overwhelming in noise, routine, and lack of autonomy, creating distress for many.
• Dignity & recognition: Many simply want to be seen as who they are, without having their identity reduced to “difficult” or “confused.”

The Loss of Wisdom

When older neurominorities remain invisible, society loses something vital: their wisdom. These are people who have survived decades of navigating systems not designed for them. Their insights could guide how we build more inclusive futures. Instead, their stories are often lost, and with them, the opportunity for intergenerational learning.

Towards Visibility

If we are to create a truly inclusive world, we must:

1. Acknowledge neurodiversity as lifelong: Advocacy campaigns, research, and policy must reflect this reality.
2. Collect data: Without statistics on neurominorities over 65, the invisibility will persist.
3. Design elder care for all neurotypes: Care homes, social services, and healthcare must be re-trained and re-tooled.
4. Tell the stories: Elevating the voices of neurominorities in later life is not only healing for them but transformative for younger generations.
5. Build intergenerational solidarity: Spaces where younger and older neurominorities connect can create belonging and preserve lived knowledge.

Conclusion

Neurominorities do not disappear when they reach retirement age. They do not stop being autistic, dyslexic, ADHD, or Tourette’s at 65. They are here, often still masking, still misunderstood, and still yearning for connection. It is time we stop pretending neurodiversity ends at the school gates or the workplace and start honoring the full length of life, from cradle to grave.

Because a society that makes its elders invisible is a society that forgets itself.