What are the merits of identifying as neurodivergent? Assessing the effects of neurodiversity labels on the evaluation of and stigmatizing attitudes towards people exhibiting autistic traits.
Abstract
Background With the neurodiversity movement gaining traction, people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other diagnoses have begun self-identifying as neurodivergent and report that this manner of disclosure boosts their self-esteem and well-being. However, little is known about how self-labelling as neurodivergent changes public perception about the people self-labelling as neurodivergent. This study explores how neurodiversity labels influence stigmatizing and empowering public perceptions of people displaying ASD-typical characteristics.
Methods In a three-armed online-experiment, 1215 participants received a text-vignette describing a male adult with everyday life challenges typically associated with ASD. The man was either labelled as neurodivergent/neurodiverse, autistic, or not labelled. Participants then rated the described man in terms of social, general, and self-regulation competencies and answered questionnaires on stigmatizing and empowering beliefs about the presented person and/or people like him.
Results In the neurodiversity-label and no-label conditions, ratings on social competencies and emotional stability were higher than in the autism condition. The crucial stigmatization components blame and desired social distance were significantly lower in the neurodiversity- and autism-label conditions than in the no-label condition.
Conclusion Across all public perception outcome categories, using a neurodiversity label provided the optimal balance of benefits. This highlights how self-identifying as neurodivergent (rather than by one’s diagnosis) may be a way to circumvent some public stigma when disclosing one’s challenges and warrants further investigation into the generalizability and stability of such effects.
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BibTeX
@misc{schlier2026what,
title = {{What are the merits of identifying as neurodivergent? Assessing the effects of neurodiversity labels on the evaluation of and stigmatizing attitudes towards people exhibiting autistic traits.}},
author = {Björn Schlier and Maya Kaiser and Laura Jungnitz and Milena Sophia de Bruin and Luc Weilandt and Marie Ballhause and Felix Strakeljahn},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/qat93_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/qat93_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - What are the merits of identifying as neurodivergent? Assessing the effects of neurodiversity labels on the evaluation of and stigmatizing attitudes towards people exhibiting autistic traits.
AU - Björn Schlier
AU - Maya Kaiser
AU - Laura Jungnitz
AU - Milena Sophia de Bruin
AU - Luc Weilandt
AU - Marie Ballhause
AU - Felix Strakeljahn
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/17
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/qat93_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/qat93_v1/
AB - Background With the neurodiversity movement gaining traction, people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other diagnoses have begun self-identifying as neurodivergent and report that this manner of disclosure boosts their self-esteem and well-being. However, little is known about how self-labelling as neurodivergent changes public perception about the people self-labelling as neurodivergent. This study explores how neurodiversity labels influence stigmatizing and empowering public perceptions of people displaying ASD-typical characteristics. Methods In a three-armed online-experiment, 1215 participants received a text-vignette describing a male adult with everyday life challenges typically associated with ASD. The man was either labelled as neurodivergent/neurodiverse, autistic, or not labelled. Participants then rated the described man in terms of social, general, and self-regulation competencies and answered questionnaires on stigmatizing and empowering beliefs about the presented person and/or people like him. Results In the neurodiversity-label and no-label conditions, ratings on social competencies and emotional stability were higher than in the autism condition. The crucial stigmatization components blame and desired social distance were significantly lower in the neurodiversity- and autism-label conditions than in the no-label condition. Conclusion Across all public perception outcome categories, using a neurodiversity label provided the optimal balance of benefits. This highlights how self-identifying as neurodivergent (rather than by one’s diagnosis) may be a way to circumvent some public stigma when disclosing one’s challenges and warrants further investigation into the generalizability and stability of such effects.
ER -