Kassiane Asasumasu

Kassiane A. Asasumasu (Sibley; born 1982) is a Hapa Asian autism rights activist who is credited for coining several terms related to the Neurodiversity Movement, including caregiver benevolence (2014), neurodivergent, and neurodivergence (2000).

As stated in the text Neurodiversity for Dummies, "Asasumasu's work set the stage for a broader understanding and acceptance of neurological differences", which "continue[s] to be shared, shaped and formed by all sorts of people who recogniz[e] that our world should be accepting, inclusive, and accommodating of people regardless of their neurotype".

Kassiane Sibley was born in 1982 and has seven siblings, all of whom are all neurotypical.

She was diagnosed as autistic when she was three years old and was bullied for much of her childhood.

Asasumasu has shared that she also has temporal lobe epilepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of applied behavior analysis.

Asasumasu is Hapa Asian.

Following the rise of the autism rights movement in the 1990s, many autistic advocates, including Sibley, recognized that a wide variety of people experienced the world in ways similar to autistic people, despite not being autistic.

As a result, Sibley coined the related terms neurodivergent and neurodivergence circa 2000.

According to Sibley, these terms refer to those "whose neurocognitive functioning diverges from dominant societal norms in multiple ways".

She intended for these terms to apply to a broad variety of people, not just people with neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and dyslexia.

She further emphasized that it should not be used to exclude people but rather to include them.

This term provided activists a way to advocate for increased rights and accessibility for non-autistic people who do not have typical neurocognitive functioning.

As stated in the text Neurodiversity for Dummies, "Asasumasu's work set the stage for a broader understanding and acceptance of neurological differences", which "continue[s] to be shared, shaped and formed by all sorts of people who recogniz[e] that our world should be accepting, inclusive, and accommodating of people regardless of their neurotype".

Asasumasu coined the term caregiver benevolence in 2014.

This concept refers to the overarching societal belief that caregivers are "angelic, saint-like figure[s]" for offering their time, energy, and financial resources to care for a disabled person.

In alignment with this belief, ignorance is the only harm caregivers can do to the disabled person in their care.

Asasumasu argues that due to the presumption of caregiver benevolence, the relationships between disabled people and their caregivers are frequently framed through "claims of hardship and suffering" on behalf of the caregiver, while neglecting the harms caused to the disabled person on behalf of their caregiver; such a presumption and reframing can lead to society overlooking the abuse of disabled people.