Over the past few decades, diagnoses like autism and ADHD have taken on growing social importance in the UK, driving a surge in demand for assessments. At the same time, as more people receive these diagnoses and scientific perspectives evolve, the meaning of these labels has shifted and expanded, capturing a greater range of experiences.However, this broadening also makes it harder to define what these diagnoses truly represent since two individuals with the same diagnosis may have vastly different abilities, needs, and perspectives.

Furthermore, the significance of these labels varies by context: for individuals, they can be deeply tied to identity and self-understanding. But within organisations, they can serve as gatekeepers to vital support services. Many services primarily offer assessments with a binary “yes/ no” diagnosis, which can then shape the kind of support people receive. Services are also struggling to keep up with the demand for diagnosis (NHS Digital, 2022; Holtom & Lloyd-Jones, 2022), resulting in long waiting times. Recognizing this, some UK services are rethinking the role of diagnostic labels in shaping care. Instead of relying on simple yes/no categories, they are exploring more flexible, needs-based approaches that capture an individual’s unique challenges, strengths and circumstances.

These changes have the potential to radically change how we understand and respond to neurodevelopmental differences. The UK is at a critical moment in redefining how these diagnostic labels are used and what they mean for those who receive them. The Beyond Binaries project investigates how the meanings of neurodevelopmental diagnoses are changing and what this means for individuals, support systems, and society as a whole. It will explore how and why diagnosis comes to mean what it does, particularly within clinical services. It will trace changes as they happen, explore how and why they happen in the way they do, and the consequences of these changes for stakeholders.