VAST vs ADHD — And Why It Matters for the Neurodiversity Change Foundation(NCF)
VAST vs ADHD — Why Language Matters for Systems Change
I’ve had some great conversations this week about labelling — who defines us, what language actually reflects lived experience, and how reframing can unlock systems change. We’ve explored and invented new acronyms that better articulate our reality. There is more to come on this. But one term already carries broad resonance: VAST — Variable Attention StimulusTrait.
Most people know ADHD. Far fewer know VAST — a term coined by Dr. Edward Hallowell to describe the same cluster of attentional differences without the lens ofdeficit, disorder, or pathology. VAST isn’t about replacing anyone’s diagnosis. It’s about expanding the conversation, shifting how systems understand us, and naming what many of us already know: the issue is rarely the person — it’s the environment.
VAST is a systems-change lever.
Why ADHD Language Falls Short
“ADHD” is a medicalized label rooted in deficit framing: attention deficit, executive functioning disorder. It signals that the problem lives inside the individual. But for many neurodivergent adults, the struggle is not internal. The real barriers come from context:
Workplaces built for linear thinkers
Healthcare systems that misinterpret communication or pace
Accommodation processes that involve excessive burdens and harm
Policies focused on impairment instead of diversity
The ADHD label often leads to:
Misunderstanding
Underestimation
Under-accommodation
Blame instead of redesign
These outcomes are not neutral. They produce harm, exclusion, discrimination, and lost opportunity. When deficit framing is embedded in the name used to describe our difference, how can we realistically expect equity?
What VAST Actually Reframes
VAST reframes attentional differences as a normal part of human variation — neither good nor bad, neither pathology nor personal failure, and not something to correct or cure. It recognizes:
Dynamic attention
Stimulus variability
Strength-based patterns
Intensity, hyperfocus, creativity, nonlinear problem-solving
Sensitivity to context, meaning, environment and justice
This language shifts the question from: “What’s wrong with this person?” to “What environment/support/relationship/structure/setting do they need to thrive — and why isn’t the system providing it?” And importantly: The goal isn’t to replace ADHD or deny anyone’s diagnosis or supports. It’s to widen the frame so that lived experience, dignity, and complexity are no longer collapsed into deficit.