Developmental language disorder and neurodiversity: Surfacing contradictions, tensions and unanswered questions.

What is already known on the subject Neurodiversity approaches are increasingly being taken up in research and practice in relation to autism, meaning that our understanding of autism and how autistic people are supported is increasingly drawing on the principles of neurodiversity. However, autism is not the only neurodivergent population. Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is another neurodevelopmental condition; however, relative to autism, DLD has lower awareness amongst professionals and the public. There has been no scholarship that has examined DLD through the lens of neurodiversity, or considered the application of neurodiversity-affirming approaches to DLD. What this paper adds to existing knowledge In this paper, we examine what the neurodiversity movement means for DLD research and practice. In particular, we consider what neurodiversity in the field of autism might teach us about the application of neurodiversity in the field of DLD, and highlight where we believe there are important differences between the two populations. We reflect on what neurodiversity means for intervention, diagnosis, terminology and championing the need for accessibility, especially with regard to mental health support, education and employment. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Neurodiversity highlights the need to consider interventions at the level of an individual's environment (e.g., how can we make this space more inclusive?) as well as interventions operating at the level of the individual themselves (e.g., interventions focusing on an individual's language skills). We challenge the notion that neurodiversity-affirming approaches mean not diagnosing DLD or changing DLD's terminology: we argue that this is not in the spirit of the original neurodiversity movement, but also that for a condition with such low public awareness, these actions could do more harm than good for families affected by DLD. We call for more in-depth scholarship and discussion around the application of neurodiversity approaches to DLD and argue that the neurodiversity movement offers an important opportunity to raise better awareness and understanding of DLD in multiple sectors, including (but not limited to) mental health, education and employment.