Why do people now days correlate being different/quirky to being neurodivergent?

[Anonymous]

Like now it’s always “I have autism. That’s why I never had many friends.” Or they claim autism because they do quirky things when most people do quirky things but not everyone is autistic or on the spectrum. I have seen people diagnosing themselves on social media and excusing/justifying it with “If you ever think you are autistic then you are.” Forget about the fact that most of us claim things without full understanding and knowledge of it and a lot of people over think. Overthinking makes you come to wrong conclusions every time.

[Anonymous]

It's because of the toxic therapy culture. For years keep telling people to talk about their mental illness publicly online where everyone can see it to help destigmatize mental illness and now everyone throws arounds mental health terms like they are doctor or they work as a mental health professional. They kids sharing their personal mental health problems publicly online with random people they don't know.

Companies like better help are hire unqualified therapist who don't know what they are doing to treat, so a lot of miss misinformation goes around and people fully understanding what the diagnoses means. Like people diagnosis some random people as a narcist when they are just someone who just seems a little self-center, cock or arrogant.

You got someone who is a little shy and doesn't like to talk around other people calling themselves "Anti-social" when Anti-social means you're a psycho path and engage in criminal behavior and you're impulsive and all these things don't fit the criteria.

It's the same thing with someone calling themselves neurodivergent for being a little awkward.

[boggboss]

Self diagnosis are always going to be a negative but simply put we are getting much better at identifying neurodivergent traits and behaviours

[Account]

Because it is actually more common than people think it is. There are things you can identify within you that are not the norm but it takes time and observation to realize that people in your environment do not operate in that way. As for people who are different/quirky, well, sometimes there is reason why they are different/quirky.
The point is that people have become more self-aware, have more access to information and there is not as much stigma nowadays regarding it as there was in the past.

[Nikki1989]

People are starting to recognize and identify with neurodivergent traits.

[paledreams]

I hear ya 👂🏻👂🏻 sigh
Ah well. I don't take any of those labels, I'm just humble me lol 😆

[jahaims]

Tiktok made it popular. Just like how being a nerd became cool and the e girls jumped on the wagon