Our individually unique nervous systems and sensitivities develop and evolve continuously over the course of our lives. Yet, recent participatory research reveals a profound societal disconnect: 85 percent of neurodivergent adults report that they often or always feel overwhelmed and misunderstood, while more than 60 percent frequently or always feel disrespected and unsafe. According to researchers, an individual’s overall sense of wellbeing is fundamentally determined by the alignment between their unique sensitivity profile and the ecology of care in which they are embedded—or conversely, the absence of such support.
Development and Evolution of Human Nervous Systems
Laws and social norms deemed applicable in large-scale, "super-human" societies can never serve as a substitute for trustworthy, caring, and loving relationships. By definition, sweeping legal frameworks and macro-level social norms are formulated in ignorance of individual sensitivity profiles and diverse life circumstances.
When societies scale up beyond human dimensions, environments become inherently traumatizing because they rely heavily on interactions between people who know very little or nothing about one another. In contrast, small-scale human environments minimize anonymous interactions over time. Healing often involves collaborative niche construction alongside others who are committed to nurturing shared understanding and de-powered ecologies of care beyond the human, operating within egalitarian, human-scale settings. Healthy social ecologies empower individuals to develop a positive relationship with their own sensitivity profiles, cultivating laws and social norms that remain attuned to specific ecological contexts rather than being dictated by abstract institutions in distant places.
Researchers argue that all non-egalitarian social environments, regardless of scale, share the core characteristics of a cult. Modern "civilisations" built on hierarchical structures of coercive power are no exception. Empires rely on the myth of cultural superiority, which includes the institutional normalization of violence, bullying, and neglect. Consequently, the norms and laws that emerge within these structures focus primarily on perpetuating hierarchical power dynamics rather than safeguarding human and non-human wellbeing. Ultimately, the structural difference between smaller cults and the power matrices within modern corporations and nation-states is merely a matter of scale.
The Reality of Internalized Ableism
The extent to which individuals consciously experience their social environment as a traumatizing cult depends largely on their level of internalized ableism and their capacity to maintain cognitive dissonance over months, years, and decades. Participatory research conducted by the Autistic Collaboration Trust indicates that many autistic and intersectionally marginalized people experience dominant cultural systems as profoundly traumatizing.
In hypernormative civilizations, marginalized populations routinely bear the brunt of internalized ableism. Conversely, individuals who consider themselves culturally "well-adjusted" experience the dominant culture as relatively safe, having successfully internalized the behavioral patterns of homo economicus.
Cultural and Psychological Safety in Workplace Settings
Global survey data examining workplace environments underscores a stark divide in how institutional cultures are experienced. Non-marginalized employees generally perceive typical workplace settings as normal and neutral. In contrast, employees from marginalized population segments feel significantly less safe and welcome on the job.
Data indicates that over 40 percent of surveyed employees are frequently or always afraid to express their authentic selves when interacting with hierarchical superiors, while more than 25 percent experience similar fears when interacting with peers. Because these global surveys capture substantial responses from marginalized demographics, aggregate results reveal a sharp contrast when compared against subpopulations that consider themselves culturally well-adjusted.
Among employees who identify as culturally well-adjusted, more than 90 percent report feeling entirely at ease among peers, though roughly 20 percent experience residual tension when engaging with management. Meanwhile, over 50 percent of marginalized employees are consistently afraid to be authentic around superiors, and over 25 percent feel the same apprehension around peers.
The numbers are even more pronounced among neurodivergent workers. Roughly 70 percent of neurodivergent employees report being frequently or always afraid to be their authentic selves around superiors, and over 40 percent feel this fear around peers. These figures highlight the pervasive, undeniable reality of internalized ableism within professional environments.
The Neurodivergent Childhood Experience in Modern Civilization
The exposure to internalized ableism begins early in life, taking root within powered-up family structures and conventional educational institutions.
Among neurodivergent children, approximately 90 percent report being frequently or always afraid to express their authentic selves at school, while nearly 70 percent experience this fear within their own families. Furthermore, over 90 percent of neurodivergent children regularly feel overwhelmed and misunderstood, more than 80 percent feel disrespected, and over 70 percent feel unsafe.
As a direct consequence of these persistent environments, over 70 percent of neurodivergent children frequently distrust family, friends, and classmates, while roughly 80 percent engage in emotional detachment merely to cope and survive. More than 90 percent experience chronic anxiety, and 80 percent report regular feelings of depression.
The Adult Neurodivergent Experience
For those who do not consciously opt out of the hypernormative trajectory of modern industrial society, the experience of internalized ableism extends seamlessly into adulthood. However, the ability to opt out depends heavily on being embedded within a healthy ecology of care—a supportive network that can take decades to establish, leaving it out of reach for many.
Among neurodivergent adults, 70 percent remain afraid to be authentic at work, nearly 60 percent feel apprehension within their families, and over 45 percent feel unsafe expressing authenticity among friends. Furthermore, 85 percent of neurodivergent adults regularly feel overwhelmed and misunderstood, and over 60 percent feel disrespected and unsafe.
This ongoing exposure takes a severe psychological toll: over 35 percent of neurodivergent adults frequently distrust close family members and friends, and more than 60 percent rely on emotional detachment as a survival mechanism. Over 80 percent experience chronic anxiety, and half report persistent depression.
The Human Sense of Agency
Researchers emphasize that a true sense of agency is a human-scale phenomenon that emerges organically from de-powered dialogues within trustworthy relationships. Because most neurodivergent individuals lack access to such supportive networks, their opportunities for genuine de-powered dialogue remain severely restricted.
An individual sense of agency is fundamentally the feeling of being understood, respected, and cared for, coupled with the ability to contribute to group decisions without coercion. Healthy cultures view agency as a collaborative, human-scale dynamic rather than an isolated individual attribute or a product of bureaucratic institutions.
In contrast, the competitive sense of agency promoted by traditional economic ideology is incompatible with modern scientific insights into human cognition and relational ecology. Acknowledging that human agency operates within collaborative boundaries—and cannot be scaled up infinitely without causing harm—directly challenges the progress myths of industrialized societies.
Cognitive Dissonance and Rebuilding Faith in Humanity
Overall human wellbeing is inextricably linked to the health of one’s surrounding ecology of care, individual sensitivity profiles, and the capacity to navigate or resolve cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance surfaces whenever human emotional limits are reached. Interestingly, individuals who consider themselves culturally well-adjusted often exhibit an immense, nearly unlimited capacity for maintaining cognitive dissonance from an autistic perspective.
Experts suggest that recognizing human and emotional limits as immutable physical realities can pave the way toward intersectional solidarity and healing at society’s margins. By nurturing small-scale ecologies of care, communities can rediscover faith in humanity and align with the broader, life-affirming cycles of nature. The diverse sensitivity profiles found within the neurodivergent community may well function as a cultural immune system, offering a vital guide back toward healthy, sustainable social organisms.
Ongoing research initiatives by organizations such as the Autistic Collaboration Trust and S23M continue to gather anonymous data on psychological safety, intersectional experiences, and cognitive dissonance in workplaces and healthcare settings, aiming to shed further light on these systemic challenges.
