This chapter sits at the hinge between power and futures. Chapter 12 asked who gets to speak. Chapter 13 looked at how institutions are built to hear—or not hear—different kinds of minds. Chapter 14 turns to a question that sounds softer but carries the same weight: how do we talk about what neurodivergent and disabled people give —about creativity, contribution, and “strengths”—without erasing cost, and without making usefulness the condition of belonging. To do that hones

This chapter examines how diagnostic labels operate as stigma‑carrying devices and how the Spillover Effect contaminates credibility across domains. It critiques three dominant narratives (tragedy, superpower, social construction) and uses NPF/CNI to explain why stigma is so resistant to evidence. It connects stigma to epistemic injustice and ends with a personal reflection on the practice of noticing categorical bias.