Reframing Neurodivergence: A Content Analysis of Positive Psychology Themes in Online Narratives
Document Type
Event
Faculty Mentor
Jen Hart
Abstract
Deficit-based approaches have dominated neurodivergence research, focusing on impairment, symptoms, diagnosis, remediation interventions, and supports. Positive psychology and strengths perspectives—emphasizing flourishing beyond survival—have often been sidelined or subsumed into deficit models. Neurodivergent individuals face views that invalidate or pathologize their realities, leading to scholarship overlooking adaptive strategies for unsupportive environments. Recent work intensifies calls for neurodiversity-affirming research prioritizing direct voices, insider perspectives, community methods, and systemic reform over individualized remediation. This study asks: How do neurodivergent individuals articulate character strengths in first-person accounts of their lives? Using qualitative content analysis, the study examined 214 online narratives by self-identified neurodivergent individuals. Narratives were coded using a researcher-developed VIA-aligned framework, assigning up to three salient strengths per narrative for frequency analysis and interpretation. The method prioritized narrative coherence, contextual meaning, and temporal development over keyword frequency, treating lived experience as valid psychological knowledge. Findings showed strengths from Wisdom and Knowledge (e.g., perspective) and Courage (e.g., perseverance, honesty) were most prominent. Perseverance appeared most frequently, followed by perspective, hope, and honesty. These were portrayed as adaptive capacities shaped through adversity, identity exploration, and resistance to deficit-framed neurodivergence. They emerged gradually in response to social, educational, and institutional barriers. A recurring theme involved frustration with delayed emotional insight and a desire for real-time awareness during key moments. This pattern indicates strengths development is intertwined with temporal emotional processing, with insight emerging retrospectively rather than concurrently. By centering first-person narratives in a structured strengths framework, this study advances positive psychology, narrative identity research, and neurodiversity scholarship. It promotes a process-oriented, context-sensitive model of character strengths and underscores strengths-based approaches that honor neurodivergent realities without deficit explanations. Keywords: neurodiversity; character strengths; positive psychology; VIA Classification; narrative identity; qualitative content analysis
Reframing Neurodivergence: A Content Analysis of Positive Psychology Themes in Online Narratives
Deficit-based approaches have dominated neurodivergence research, focusing on impairment, symptoms, diagnosis, remediation interventions, and supports. Positive psychology and strengths perspectives—emphasizing flourishing beyond survival—have often been sidelined or subsumed into deficit models. Neurodivergent individuals face views that invalidate or pathologize their realities, leading to scholarship overlooking adaptive strategies for unsupportive environments. Recent work intensifies calls for neurodiversity-affirming research prioritizing direct voices, insider perspectives, community methods, and systemic reform over individualized remediation. This study asks: How do neurodivergent individuals articulate character strengths in first-person accounts of their lives? Using qualitative content analysis, the study examined 214 online narratives by self-identified neurodivergent individuals. Narratives were coded using a researcher-developed VIA-aligned framework, assigning up to three salient strengths per narrative for frequency analysis and interpretation. The method prioritized narrative coherence, contextual meaning, and temporal development over keyword frequency, treating lived experience as valid psychological knowledge. Findings showed strengths from Wisdom and Knowledge (e.g., perspective) and Courage (e.g., perseverance, honesty) were most prominent. Perseverance appeared most frequently, followed by perspective, hope, and honesty. These were portrayed as adaptive capacities shaped through adversity, identity exploration, and resistance to deficit-framed neurodivergence. They emerged gradually in response to social, educational, and institutional barriers. A recurring theme involved frustration with delayed emotional insight and a desire for real-time awareness during key moments. This pattern indicates strengths development is intertwined with temporal emotional processing, with insight emerging retrospectively rather than concurrently. By centering first-person narratives in a structured strengths framework, this study advances positive psychology, narrative identity research, and neurodiversity scholarship. It promotes a process-oriented, context-sensitive model of character strengths and underscores strengths-based approaches that honor neurodivergent realities without deficit explanations. Keywords: neurodiversity; character strengths; positive psychology; VIA Classification; narrative identity; qualitative content analysis
