There is a lot of debate about which disorders fall under neurodiversity, should disorders like psychopathy or prosopagnosia (face blindness) be included? In order to answer this question, one must explore different perspectives and factors that should be considered in order for a disorder to come under neurodiversity.
First of all, it is necessary to know what psychopathy and prosopagnosia are and what their causes are, as there are a lot of myths and misinterpretations around them. Psychopathy is a mental disorder which is characterised by extreme antisocial behaviour and an inability to love, lack of empathy and impulsivity. The cause of psychopathy is genetics and inheritance, which is often confused with the cause of sociopathy which is severe childhood trauma or abuse. Prosopagnosia, commonly known as face blindness, is a disorder in which people cannot recognise or differentiate between faces. It can be caused either by a severe brain injury or they could have it from birth, the latter being more common. It is also important to note that even though prosopagnosia isn't a symptom of autism, it is very common among autistic people.
Neurodiversity is defined as the variation in the human brain, and the idea that neurodivergent people should be accepted as they are a normal part of society. Since both psychopathy and prosopagnosia are most commonly present in a person since birth, they should be considered part of the spectrum, right? Yes, however there are a lot of other things to be taken into consideration too, for psychopathy especially. A lot of us feel endangered by psychopaths and pedophiles (which is completely valid) so it can become hard to accept them into society. There is also the problem with diagnosis, as if a person is diagnosed with psychopathy it can become difficult for them to get jobs and other activities/responsibilities and thus again the division is made between us and them. Among people with autism, ADHD etc. empathy is a common trait and they genuinely care for other people. But for psychopathy it's quite the opposite. However, empathy isn’t supposed to be an actual factor for a disorder to be neurodivergent.
Having prosopagnosia comes with a lot of disadvantages, such as not wanting to attend social gatherings and not being able to make friends (especially in children) much like other disorders on the spectrum. With psychopaths, there also comes the issue of “choice”. Although they have no control over them having the disorder since it is completely genetic, they can try to control their impulses and decide whether or not to actually act on their egotistical and antisocial thoughts. This impulsivity also depends on the severity of the disease.
In conclusion, I believe that neurological disorders like psychopathy or prosopagnosia should fall under neurodiversity as long as they are caused by biological and not environmental factors. It may become difficult to accept these kinds of people into our neurotypical society, but we need to remember that they have no control over this and they are still humans that deserve to be listened to, accepted and loved.
By Nehal Saxena
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