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This week in Life Finds A Way, writer Kavin Senapathy explores how we think about neurodiversity when we take a step back and consider cognitive diversity in other species.
While the neurodiversity paradigm emerged in the 1900s as a human-centered concept rooted in social justice, the biological reality it describes isn’t uniquely human at all. From crows to bees, cognitive diversity is standard in social species.
At a time when deficit-based thinking about autism and neurodivergence is the norm, and where systems are designed for the neurotypical, understanding neurodiversity as a part of biodiversity reframes the entire conversation.
The question isn’t “what’s wrong with different ways of thinking?”, it’s “why would any population evolve to think identically?”
Spoiler: They don’t. Because that’s not how survival works.
Read on!
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Not All Crows Think Alike (And That’s The Point)
By Kavin Senapathy
Kavin Senapathy is an author and science writer covering health and living things. They live in Madison, Wisconsin, with their spouse, two adolescent humans, two dogs, a tortoise, and billions of other creatures. They enjoy watching music videos, picking brains, and going to the gym.
Across India, Corvus splendens, or common house crows, are seen as messengers between the living and the dead. Wielding balls of rice and other favorite foods, countless families summon them, shouting “Caaw! Caaw!”
As part of this ancient ritual, to honor your departed loved one, you can’t give up until the crows arrive and chow down. If you’re lucky, an extra-friendly crow or two will swoop in right away. But sometimes, the crows you encounter are more wary, so you continue shouting in the afternoon heat.
In the South Pacific islands known as Kanaky, renamed New Caledonia by European colonizers, lives Corvus moneduloides, a crow species known for its ingenuity. Consider their metatool skills. Once thought to be exclusive to mammals, these birds are known for their uncanny ability to use, or even build, a series of tools to accomplish an ultimate task.
Like most complex tasks, some individuals make metatool use look easy, while others struggle and sometimes give up. Remarkable, and relatable.
Though we evolved along completely different paths, crows have always seemed like kindred spirits. That’s largely because crows are a lot like us. An integral part of that resemblance is the variation in crows’ thinking and antics.
They could be considered neurodiverse, except for the fact that the term isn’t supposed to apply to crows.
The concept of neurodiversity, which first arose in the 1990s, is considered a human-only term describing our natural neurological variation. The basic idea is that people’s thinking and reasoning inhabit an expansive spectrum in which nobody is normal or abnormal.
The neurodiversity paradigm was largely built on the social model of autism, which asserts that there’s nothing inherently wrong with autistic folks. In this view, it largely is a society made by and for neurotypical people that marginalizes different thought processes and behavior. Over time, the neurodiversity umbrella grew to include other neurocognitive conditions in humans, like ADHD and OCD.
But why shouldn’t the umbrella expand to include non-humans?
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