Before Neurodiversity

The objective of this paper is to introduce neurodiversity movement. Like Feminist HCI[5] neurodiversity critiques the implicit notion of 'user' in the singular. Neurodiversity suggests that current approaches carry with them certain assumptions about the cognitive processing abilities of users which need to be challenged. This paper is concerned with the design and evaluation of interactive systems that are imbued with an awareness of the central commitments of neurodiversity. The paper seeks to identify and promote neurodiversity under the banner of neurodiversity HCI. This paper introduces neurodiversity and then critically evaluates aspects of HCI from the neurodiversity perspective.