Neuroelevity Tenet 4: Transparency Over Surveillance

Tenet 4: Transparency Over Surveillance addresses the reality that neurodivergent people are often monitored, measured, and evaluated far more intensely than their neurotypical peers. Across classrooms, workplaces, and clinical settings, ND individuals experience forms of micro-surveillance that track their behaviors, productivity, tone, communication style, and emotional regulation. These practices, often framed as “support,” end up pathologizing difference and reinforcing the belief that neurodivergent people must be controlled rather than understood. This dynamic echoes Michel Foucault’s observations on how modern institutions use subtle forms of surveillance to shape behavior—creating compliance through constant observation rather than collaboration.

Neuroelevity rejects this paradigm by calling for Transparency Over Surveillance. Instead of data tracking, behavior charts, or hidden evaluative systems, transparency emphasizes clear expectations, open communication, and agency. It shifts the focus from managing behavior to understanding needs, replacing silent observation with relational clarity and mutual trust. When ND individuals know the “why,” “how,” and “what” behind decisions, and when they are invited to co-create the structures that affect them, they are empowered rather than controlled. This tenet insists that support should be consent-based, collaborative, and respectful—not something imposed from above.

Ultimately, Transparency Over Surveillance challenges the belief that neurodivergent people must earn trust through compliance. It imagines environments where accountability is relational rather than punitive, where difference is not something to be monitored, and where neurodivergent people participate as equal partners rather than subjects of observation.

Ultimately, Transparency Over Surveillance challenges the belief that neurodivergent people must earn trust through compliance. It imagines environments where accountability is relational rather than punitive, where difference is not something to be monitored, and where neurodivergent people participate as equal partners rather than subjects of observation.