Neuroqueer
Neuroqueer
This page is appropriate as a resource for neuroqueer individuals, allies who want to learn more, and staff who wish to better support students.
This page is a result of a collaborative project between staff and students, funded by a WIHEA Small Fund award. The aim of the project was to explore existing neuroqueer literature, discourse, and resources bring them together into a single space. As such, this is a work in progress and will change over time!
This project was co-led between Sable Lim, and Dr Luke Hodson. With thanks to Osarume Erhabor, Elisei Abaltusov, Neeve Bishop, Sam Parr, Dr Ross Foreman, Dr Gemma Gray, and Dr Jagjeet Jutley-Neilson for their contributions.
An Intersectional Approach
There are many individuals who identify as both queer and neurodivergent. As gender roles and heteronormativity have been conceptualised as performances or societal constructions, it follows that neurodivergent individuals鈥� relationships to gender and sexuality will be affected by their neurodivergence, and vice versa. For many, this means that these two factors of their identity are inextricably linked, making it all the more important to consider an intersectional approach when supporting neuroqueer students and peers.
Neuroqueer Students and Belonging
Hetero- and neuronormativity can lead to neuroqueer students feeling out of place. A case study led by the Queering University programme found that whilst 1/7 disabled students reported feeling unable to be themselves, this number rises to 录 in disabled lgbtqia+ students. It is vital to cultivate a space in which hetero- and neuronormativity are challenged and students are made to feel seen, as low sense of belonging has been found to increase the likelihood of mental distress in students (Backhaus et al., 2020 in Sotardi et al, 2021)
Impact on care
Neuroqueer individuals may also face greater difficulties in accessing care. Studies suggest that there is a correlation between identifying as autistic and identifying as trans, meaning that it is vital for people to be able to access care for both. However, a focus group consisting of those who are both trans and autistic found that a diagnosis of autism can lead to an increase in barriers to gender affirming care, reflecting the troubling tendency of society to question the agency of autistic people. Conversely, those experiencing gender dysphoria may find that the majority of their struggles are attributed to this, making it harder to receive care for issues arising from their autism.
.
Community
Online spaces have been integral to the formation of neuroqueer communities (Egner, Logan). is a community led blog focused on 鈥減ublishing creative writing, art, and articles of all kinds arising from the neuroqueer experience鈥�. Although it is no longer active, it contains posts from many different people exploring their experiences. Likewise, social media platforms can be a way for people to connect with others who share similar experiences.
鈥淚 originally conceived of neuroqueer as a verb: neuroqueering as the practice of queering (subverting, defying, disrupting, liberating oneself from) neuronormativity and heteronormativity simultaneously[鈥 I was expanding the Queer Theory conceptualization of queering to encompass the queering of neurocognitive norms as well as gender norms鈥� Dr Nick Walker
Neuroqueering as a Practice
The word 鈥榥euroqueer鈥� does not only refer to individuals who are both neurodivergent and queer, but can also be thought of as a practice, or a mindset. In fact, Dr Wilder suggests that one does not have to be neurodivergent and queer themselves to neuroqueer, and that anyone who neuroqueers is themselves neuroqueer. In exploring and maintaining an awareness of oneself in this way, the practice of neuroqueering can be liberating for neurodivergent and queer people, and allies who neuroqueer may find it a useful perspective to help reexamine their biases.
Dr Wilder also draws attention to the issue of pathologisation that is often prevalent when discussing neurodivergences, especially in older medical models. Queer individuals may feel especially uncomfortable with such essentialisation, and Dr Wilder suggests that a 鈥榪ueering鈥� of our conception of neurocognitive norms can be a solution to these issues.
How might someone do 'neuroqueer'?
- Being both neurodivergent and queer, with some degree of conscious awareness and/or active exploration around how these two aspects of one鈥檚 being entwine and interact (or are, perhaps, mutually constitutive and inseparable).
- Embodying and expressing one鈥檚 neurodivergence in ways that also queer one鈥檚 performance of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and/or other aspects of one鈥檚 identity.
- Engaging in practices intended to undo and subvert one鈥檚 own cultural conditioning and one鈥檚 ingrained habits of neuronormative and heteronormative performance, with the aim of reclaiming one鈥檚 capacity to give more full expression to one鈥檚 uniquely weird potentials and inclinations.
- Engaging in the queering of one鈥檚 own neurocognitive processes (and one鈥檚 outward embodiment and expression of those processes) by intentionally altering them in ways that create significant and lasting increase in one鈥檚 divergence from prevailing cultural standards of neuronormativity and heteronormativity.
- Approaching, embodying, and/or experiencing one鈥檚 neurodivergence as a form of queerness (e.g., in ways that are inspired by, or similar to, the ways in which queerness is understood and approached in Queer Theory, Gender Studies, and/or queer activism).
- Producing literature, art, scholarship, and/or other cultural artifacts that foreground neuroqueer experiences, perspectives, and voices.
- Producing critical responses to literature and/or other cultural artifacts, focusing on intentional or unintentional characterizations of neuroqueerness and how those characterizations illuminate and/or are illuminated by actual neuroqueer lives and experiences.
- Working to transform social and cultural environments in order to create spaces and communities 鈥� and ultimately a society 鈥� in which engagement in any or all of the above practices is permitted, accepted, supported, and encouraged.
Additional Resources
is a paper exploring the method and results of a qualitative US national survey of people who refer to themselves as both 鈥榪ueer鈥� and 鈥榥eurodivergent鈥�.
Some helpful links:
Reference list and wider reading
-
Amrutha,
S. L., & Christie, L. G. (2024). Neuroqueering sexuality: Learning from the life-writings of queer neurodivergent women. Sociology Compass. - Egner, J. E. (2019). 鈥淭he Disability Rights Community was Never Mine鈥�: Neuroqueer Disidentification. Gender & Society, 33(1), 123-147. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243218803284
-
Kleekamp, M. C. (2020). 鈥淣o! Turn the Pages!鈥� Repositioning Neuroqueer Literacies. Journal of Literacy Research, 52 (2), 113-135.
https://0-doi-org.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/ -
Oswald, A. G., Avory, S., & Fine, M. (2021). Intersectional expansiveness borne at the neuroqueer nexus. Psychology & Sexuality, 13 (5), 1122鈥�1133. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2021.1900347
-
Sotardi, V. A., Surtees, N., Vincent, K., & Johnston, H. (2022). Belonging and adjustment for LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ students during the social transition to university. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 15 (6), 755鈥�765.