Growing up middle class in East Africa was itself an experience. I don’t remember learning about neurodivergence in class, however, that could be because I was in the lower classes and maybe the school system didn’t think that we needed to know about autism and such. I learned about many neurodivergent disorders much later in American high schools. In Tanzania, if a kid is acting strange or out of the norm, people would just say “oh that kid is crazy!” or sometimes they would say “he is not receiving proper care from his parents.” Never once have I heard someone say “oh maybe that kid has a disorder or neurodivergent.” Now that I’m looking back, a lot of those “crazy” kids in my childhood probably fell somewhere in the autism spectrum, they just never had someone to diagnose them.
I grew up in a very religious family, I attended a Christian boarding school for 4 years. I remember one time at school, a kid was talking to himself and he would display multiple personalities. When the students saw that, they reported him to the matron and as soon as she saw the student, her first reaction was to pray for him believing that he is possessed by some evil spirits. Again looking back, that kid should have probably been diagnosed with some neurodivergent disorder but instead, we just kept treating him like he was possessing demons. This blog is just to show that education in neurodivergence and autism is highly needed because people are out there getting sprayed with holy water instead of receiving medical care that is highly needed.
Learning about mental health and neurodivergence has opened my eyes because I now know why some people act the way they do. I am judging people less, and most of the time I don’t really care. We all have some form of mental issues; some people are just really good at suppressing them, and some people are terrible at it.
Unruly Bodies 
hi, i liked your blog post! i relate to what you said a little. my father is from a country in west africa and we visited in 2018. when we were there, we saw more than a few people on the side of the road or standing near shops and markets who were naked. i asked my dad what it was about, and he said those were more often than not people with disabilities who were disowned by their families and had everything taken from them. it is really important to learn about neurodivergence and cognitive disabilities. as you said in your blog post, people are not getting the help they may want and that they deserve because of misinformation and beliefs. this ignorance is extremely damaging, and it can be even more damaging in certain cultures and religions.
Thank you for sharing! I wasn’t taught about neurodivergence in my school system either until much later down the line when I had learned about it myself. I feel like the adults who acted in that way is just very unsettling and hope as time goes on more people will have knowledge in schools and growing up about people with neurodivergenvy.
Thank you so much for talking about how disabilities are viewed in your culture. As a psych major we talk a lot about how cultural competency is very important. It’s important to know how different cultures not only view disabilities like autism, but more importantly, how culture affects how we even conceptualize mental health issues. I grew up in america, but I went to a christian private school until college. We didn’t really talk about mental disabilities at all in school, we avoided the topic almost completely. The only reason I knew about it was from my own research. I think that your blog post as well as the experience from many other people showcase the issue of the lack of education surrounding mental disabilities. I wish that there was a simple solution to this issue, and am so glad that you put value in educating yourself on the community.
My parents immigrated from the Soviet Union and have a similar view on the matter. It took me a long time to convince them that just because someone doesn’t have a learning disability doesn’t mean they don’t have a disability at all (mental).
This post makes a really great point. A lot of people I’ve spoken to who grew up in religious communities have relayed similar sentiments about symptoms of neurodivergence being responded to with condemnation. I think for many people outgrowing this can take some time, which is why I’m always interested in hearing from people whose perspectives on these things have changed as a result of growing out of the bubble you’re in as a kid.