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On a different frequency: neurodivergence and electronic music
According to a survey by the AFEM (Association For Electronic Music), 58% of electronic music professionals identify as neurodivergent. Meanwhile, Nor- thwestern Medicine estimates that neurodivergent people make up between 15 and 20% of the global population. These are large numbers, but when read correctly, they trace the coordinates of a map that gives us the right directions to understand something more about the connection between electronic music and neurodivergence.
Stepping away from what increasingly seems like a trend, let’s approach the topic with a fascinated and curious gaze – one that tries to investigate what lies within an obsessive kick drum, a modular synth that demands hours of hyperfocus, or the darkness of a club where the body can move freely without having to speak.
My interest in this subject sparked in recent years because more and more friends or acquaintances I met in clubs and in the electronic music world started telling me about their expe- riences after receiving a neurodiver- gence diagnosis. Today, it’s not hard to find investigations and articles discussing this connection, trying to answer one question: why do so many neuroatypical brains feel at home here, and not elsewhere? It doesn’t seem like a coincidence, but rather chemistry and sensory architecture, expressed as a kind of creative survival.
“Neurodivergent” is not a diagnosis, but an umbrella term: it includes ADHD, autism, dyslexia, Tourette’s, sensory processing disorders, and others. In this piece, we’ll focus on ADHD and
autism – not because they’re the only ones, but because they appear most often in interviews and data about the electronic scene.
ADHD (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivi- ty Disorder) involves altered dopamine regulation, which leads to difficulty sustaining attention on under-sti- mulating tasks, but also incredibly powerful hyperfocus on things that are genuinely interesting. Autism is defined as a spectrum and involves atypical sensory processing (hyper- sensitivity sounds,
or hyposensitivity to lights, touch), monotropic
thinking (a single focus of attention at a time), and a strong need for predictability and routine.
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AUTOR SERGIO NIÑO PHOTORAPHY ARTIST COURTESY
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