The Neurodivergent Majority: Rethinking Normal in a Gen Z World

Let’s start with a number that should stop us in our tracks: 53% of Gen Z now identify as neurodivergent. ADHD, autism, dyslexia, anxiety, OCD, the labels vary, but the message is clear: the next generation isn’t hiding their cognitive differences. They’re naming them, owning them, and asking the world to catch up.

This isn’t a niche. It’s a new normal.

What Does That Mean Globally?

If Gen Z represents over 2 billion people worldwide, and more than half identify as neurodivergent, we’re talking about a billion minds wired differently. And that’s just Gen Z. Add in the increase in diagnoses, undiagnosed adults, the self-identifiers, and the growing awareness across all age groups, and we may already be living in a neurodivergent-majority world.

But here’s the twist: our systems, education, work, healthcare, are still designed for the neurotypical minority.

So What Do We Do?

We stop treating neurodivergence as an edge case. We start designing for it as the default.

Here’s what that looks like:

• Build flexibility by default: Let people work, learn, and communicate in ways that suit their brains, not outdated norms.
• Ditch performance theatre: Stop rewarding masking and start celebrating authenticity.
• Train for neuro-literacy: Equip leaders and educators to recognise strengths, not just “challenges.”
• Make support visible: Don’t wait for a diagnosis. Offer accommodations proactively, transparently, and without stigma.
• Redefine professionalism: Gen Z is already doing this. Let’s follow their lead.

From Diagnosis to Identity

For many, neurodivergence isn’t a medical label, it’s a cultural identity. It’s how they make sense of the world. And that shift, from diagnosis to dignity,is one of the most profound changes we’re witnessing.

As someone who’s spent years championing inclusive culture, I believe this moment calls for more than policy updates. It calls for narrative transformation. We need stories, symbols, and spaces that reflect the richness of neurodivergent experience, not just accommodate it.

The Future Is Already Here

Gen Z isn’t asking for permission. They’re asking better questions:

“What accommodations do you offer?”

“How do you support psychological safety?”

“Do your leaders know how to work with neurodivergent minds—or just around them?”

If those questions make us squirm, it’s time to look inward.

Because the future isn’t neurodivergent, the present is neurodiverse and we need to look at what that means for everyone.

Rewriting the Rules, Together

We’re not here to fix neurodivergent people. We’re here to fix the systems that forgot they existed.

If Gen Z is showing us anything, it’s that difference isn’t a deficit, it’s a design feature. One worth celebrating, accommodating, and building around. The future of tech, leadership, and culture won’t be found in rigid frameworks or one-size-fits-all playbooks. It’ll be found in the messy brilliance of lived experience, in the courage to ask better questions, and in the communities that choose inclusion not as a checkbox, but as a creative act.

So let’s stop asking how to support neurodivergent minds.

Let’s start asking: What kind of world could we build if we did?