2025 Volume 46 Issue 1 Pages 64-69
The aim of this review is to introduce the concept of neurodiversity as used for developmental stuttering. Since the introduction of the ICF by WHO in 2001, the social model has been introduced into clinical practice. However, it primarily asks the community to be responsible for the accommodation of persons with disabilities (PDs). In addition to the necessity of changes in the legal and legislative environments to conform to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of the United Nations (2006), effective education and advocacy are needed for society to acknowledge and reduce biases of ableism and stigma of disabilities. Ableism is the claim that society is for able-bodied and able-minded people. Ableism remarks and behaviors may impact PDs adversely and are called microaggressions. The diversity movement tries to embrace PDs by removing the border between the able and the disabled. The etiology and characteristics of developmental stuttering are depicted, as well as its neurodiverse and complex nature. The recent advances in the treatment of stuttering without ableism are introduced. Education and advocacy of (neuro)diversity and inclusion in society are still sorely needed for medical and welfare professionals as well as for the general public.
