{"id":1253,"date":"2026-09-04T07:51:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:51:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valerieocallaghan.com\/?p=1253"},"modified":"2026-09-04T07:51:39","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:51:39","slug":"the-neurodivergent-market-who-wins-when-you-recognize-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valerieocallaghan.com\/en\/el-mercado-de-la-neurodivergencia-quien-gana-cuando-te-reconoces\/","title":{"rendered":"The neurodivergence market: who wins when you recognize yourself"},"content":{"rendered":"

Val\u00e9rie-Anne O'Callaghan<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A person watches a video describing traits they recognize in themselves. They search for information. Within days, their feed is flooded with content on the topic: quick tests, lists of signs, accounts that explain their life better than they could. After a few weeks, the offers appear: a course, a mentoring program, a supplement protocol, a private consultation with a waiting list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recognition is real and is usually a relief. What comes next deserves careful consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I'm writing this as someone who's part of the industry. I have a private practice, I write content, and that content brings me clients. Nothing that follows excludes me from this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is this market growing now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several things come together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The demand for adult assessments has increased significantly, and public systems almost never meet it or impose waiting lists of years. This gap is filled by private initiatives, with prices ranging from reasonable to exorbitant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Content about neurodivergence performs very well on social media. It combines personal recognition, identity, and an explanation of a past discomfort, a formula with enormous reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there is a specific population with two characteristics that interest any market: it has been without answers for years and has just found a framework that organizes them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tests that are circulating<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questionnaires like the Baron-Cohen AQ or the RAADS-R are screening tools, and that means something precise: they indicate who should be evaluated, not who is autistic. They are designed to guide referrals, not to make definitive conclusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortened versions, unverified translations, and lists of traits with no psychometric basis are also circulating online. A twelve-question test with a headline promising to tell you if you are autistic has no diagnostic value whatsoever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The added problem is that many of these traits are nonspecific. Difficulty concentrating, sensitivity to noise, social exhaustion, need for routines: all of these also appear in anxiety, depression, chronic stress, sleep deprivation, and various medical conditions. Recognizing yourself in a list of common traits doesn't confirm anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It's also worth stating the opposite, because the distinction matters: self-identification has value. Many people without access to assessment accurately recognize themselves, and the literature treats this with respect. The difference lies between recognizing oneself based on careful descriptions and doing so based on a thirty-second video that describes traits almost everyone has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accompaniment without training<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the most delicate area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professional figures have emerged who operate without regulation, without required formal training, and without a framework of accountability. Anyone can call themselves a neurodivergence counselor after a weekend course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of these people do invaluable work. Their lived experience provides something that no formal training can replace, and in a field where so many people have been misunderstood by professionals, being helped by someone who understands it firsthand is invaluable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem arises at the boundaries. When this support is offered to people with suicidal ideation, complex trauma, eating disorders, or decompensation, and the person providing the support lacks the clinical training to recognize the situation and make the necessary referrals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it also appears in the structure. Cialdini (1984) described the principles that underpin commercial persuasion: perceived authority, social proof, scarcity, and progressive commitment. A program that begins with free content, continues with an affordable course, and ends with support costing several thousand euros is using progressive commitment, whatever it may be called.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supplements and protocols<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It's best to be direct here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sizable market exists for supplements targeting neurodivergent individuals: mitochondrial formulas, methylated protocols, megadoses of vitamins, and treatments for intestinal permeability. These often rely on existing literature and are presented with a level of certainty that this literature does not support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is research on mitochondrial dysfunction in a subgroup of autistic individuals. There are preliminary studies on some specific supplements. And from there to a protocol costing three hundred euros a month is a leap that no one has yet demonstrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three things to keep in mind: Supplements interact with medications. Megadoses of some vitamins can cause toxicity. And the person selling the protocol is usually the one recommending it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there is a suspicion of a metabolic disorder, the way forward is to consult a healthcare professional who can order and interpret the tests, not a standard protocol purchased online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When identity becomes a product<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is more subtle and seems more important to me than everything mentioned above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recognizing oneself as neurodivergent creates a structured biography, and this organizational capacity is real. It also transforms it into fertile ground for building a sense of belonging, and that belonging can be monetized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pattern is the same one I described regarding the personal development market. A wound is identified, amplified, a new identity is offered, and a closed community is created. From the outside, it appears to be understanding. From the inside, it can become dependency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A helpful sign: if a place requires you to continue identifying primarily with your diagnosis to remain a member, something isn't working. A successful process tends in the opposite direction, toward a life where that's a part of it, not the focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four questions before paying<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What qualifications does the person offering it have, and where is it published?<\/strong>A verifiable resume is the bare minimum. The absence of such information is itself information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What exactly does it promise?<\/strong> Promises of recovery, transformation, or resolution within a specific timeframe are the most reliable indicator. No one who is serious promises that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would you know how to differentiate?<\/strong> Ask him directly. Someone who works well knows their limits and states them without getting upset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens if you quit?<\/strong> If leaving implies losing access to the community, or is presented as resistance to the process, it is a retention structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That does seem to help<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Information written by autistic adults, which is where the best description of the experience is found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evaluation with professionals who can justify their instruments and procedures, when needed and affordable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact with peers, which the literature on well-being points to quite consistently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And concrete adjustments in life: the sensory environment, the social burden, recovery time. Unspectacular, mostly free, and more effective than almost anything that's for sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My own position<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I'm going back to the beginning, because writing this without looking at myself would be dishonest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I write content, that content brings me clients, and I get paid for my work. This very article, published on my blog, serves as part of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I can offer as a criterion is what I apply to myself: stating what is documented and what is hypothetical, pointing out the limits of what I do, deriving when appropriate, and not promising results that I cannot guarantee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a text about neurodivergence ends up leading you to an urgent purchase, with a deadline and a discount for deciding today, that text is doing something other than informing you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sources and references<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Skinner, R., Martin, J., & Clubley, E. (2001). The Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ): Evidence from Asperger syndrome\/high-functioning autism, males and females, scientists and mathematicians. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders<\/em>, 31(1), 5-17. University of Cambridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cialdini, RB (1984). Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion<\/em>. Harper Business. Social psychologist, Arizona State University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frye, R.E., et al. (2024). Biomarkers of mitochondrial dysfunction in autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Research in Developmental Disabilities<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ritvo, R.A., et al. (2011). The Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale-Revised (RAADS-R): A scale to assist the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder in adults. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders<\/em>, 41(8), 1076-1089.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rossignol, D.A. and Frye, R.E. (2012). Mitochondrial dysfunction in autism spectrum disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Molecular Psychiatry<\/em>, 17, 290-314.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism<\/em>. Public Affairs. Professor Emerita, Harvard Business School.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Val\u00e9rie-Anne O’Callaghan Una persona ve un v\u00eddeo que describe rasgos en los que se reconoce. Busca informaci\u00f3n. En pocos d\u00edas su feed se llena de contenido sobre el tema: tests r\u00e1pidos, listas de se\u00f1ales, cuentas que explican su vida mejor de lo que ella podr\u00eda. Al cabo de unas semanas aparecen las ofertas: un curso, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articulos-de-interes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/valerieocallaghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/valerieocallaghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/valerieocallaghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valerieocallaghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valerieocallaghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1253"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/valerieocallaghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1254,"href":"https:\/\/valerieocallaghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1253\/revisions\/1254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/valerieocallaghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valerieocallaghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valerieocallaghan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}