2/10 Neurodivergence & Medical Sociology

Join the Duke Neurodiversity Advocates (DNA) for a discussion that starts with a hard truth: neurodivergence is one of the most misunderstood and misdiagnosed categories out there. And if you are a woman or a person of color, the odds of being dismissed, doubted, or labeled “dramatic” instead of supported get even worse.

Neurodivergence does not always look like the stereotypes people expect. It can show up as attention differences, sensory overload, shutdowns, tics, or learning differences - but it can also overlap with “invisible” neurological and nervous system conditions that affect cognition and daily functioning, like migraine disorders, epilepsy, Tourette’s, dysautonomia (including POTS and vasovagal syncope), hypermobility and EDS, ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, chronic pain-related cognitive differences, concussion effects, anxiety, and OCD. When symptoms are invisible - fatigue, brain fog, pain, dizziness, sensory sensitivity, sleep disruption - people are often told to “push through,” blamed for being unmotivated, or treated like it is a personality flaw.

Guest speaker: Tyson Brown

What we’ll unpack

• Why neurodivergence is so often missed or misread: Masking, stigma, and narrow stereotypes lead to late diagnoses, wrong diagnoses, or no diagnosis at all.

• How race and gender shape credibility: Who is believed about pain, overload, executive dysfunction, or burnout - and who gets told it is “just stress” or “just anxiety.”

• How class shapes access to answers and support: Testing, specialists, therapy, medication, mobility aids, and documentation can be expensive and time-consuming.

• Why “professionalism” and classroom norms can be biased: Rigid expectations about communication, attendance, energy, and productivity often punish disabled and neurodivergent people.

• How we build better peer culture: What it looks like to believe people the first time, reduce gatekeeping, and make flexibility normal.

Paper's of interest:

• Warner, D. F., & Brown, T. H. (2011). Understanding how race/ethnicity and gender define age-trajectories of disability: An intersectionality approach. Social Science & Medicine, 72(8), 1236-1248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.02.034 

• Brown, T. H., Richardson, L. J., Hargrove, T. W., & Thomas, C. S. (2016). Using multiple-hierarchy stratification and life course approaches to understand health inequalities: The intersecting consequences of race, gender, SES, and age. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 57(2), 200-222.

• Brown, T. H., Hargrove, T. W., Homan, P. A., & Adkins, D. E. (2023). Racialized health inequities: Quantifying socioeconomic and stress pathways using moderated mediation. Demography, 60(3), 675-705. https://doi.org/10.1215/00703370-10740718 

• Brown, T. H., & Homan, P. (2023). The future of social determinants of health: Looking upstream to structural drivers. The Milbank Quarterly, 101(S1), 36-60. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0009.12641