Australian sociologist Judy Singer is widely credited with coining the term in the late 1990s. It grew out of autistic self-advocacy, which pushed back against therapies aimed at making autistic people appear "normal" rather than supporting their needs.
Race shapes who gets identified and supported. For years, Black and Latino children were diagnosed with autism later and less often than white children. In 2022 CDC surveillance data, about 1 in 31 eight-year-olds had been identified with autism, and Black, Hispanic and Asian children were identified at higher rates than white children. Black children are still more likely to be labeled with behavior problems and disciplined at school when they have unmet disability needs.
The neurodiversity framework connects to the social model of disability, which locates the problem in environments that do not accommodate people. It asks schools, workplaces and health systems to adapt rather than demanding that neurodivergent people mask who they are.