Neurodivergence & Intersectionality
With thanks to Ombre Tarragnat for expanding the conversation, and to NeuroConvergences for holding space for these vital, unfolding dialogues…and Legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw who coined the term “intersectionality” in 1989 to describe how systems of oppression overlap to create distinct experiences for people with multiple identity categories.
The question of what neurodivergence (ND) is, and what it could become as a field of research, is increasingly urgent. This piece of writing is sparked by the work of Ombre Tarragnat and the EU based platform NeuroConvergences that held a session yesterday called Intersections of Neurodiversity.
The session flew by, and introduced how an inquiry into broader definitions of ND studies opens up possibilities that move far beyond conventional psychological or medical frameworks.
Tarragnat’s work points towards something far more expansive than we are currently imagining: a convergence of disciplines, lived experiences, ecologies, and practices that challenge not just how we understand minds, but how we understand the ways we organise as human beings.
This piece is written with gratitude to Ombre Tarragnat for raising these questions, and to the NeuroConvergences people for cultivating a kind and inviting space where such ideas can unfold. Their work reminds us that neurodivergence research is not a niche concern, it is a portal into rethinking Society as a whole.
Image: riadbenamar123-brain-7420599 by riadbenamar123 on Pixabay
Beyond the individual: neurodivergence as collective inquiry
Too often, neurodivergence is framed as an individual condition, a sickness, something to diagnose, manage, or “treat” or even “heal”. Intersectional thinking totally disrupts this framing. It asks: Who gets diagnosed? Who gets overlooked? WHY? And what systems shape those outcomes? Neurodivergence theory questions it’s own boundaries, somethign all research should do.
The legacy of diagnostic bias, where autism and other neurodivergences were primarily identified in young white boys, continues to distort both Research and Care. Theories such as the “extreme male brain,” which were popularised in past decades, not only lacked any basic biological grounding, but has lead to such horrors as the Neurodivergence equivalent to Conversion Therapy; behavioural conditioning that prioritises ableist, sexist, and racist conformity over wellbeing and societal transformation.
The field has often reinforced the sexist, racist and exclusionary assumptions that have always plagued psychiatry.
Intersectionality, however, is a concept rooted in Black feminist scholarship, and reminds us that systems of oppression such as racism, sexism, ableism, classism do not operate independently. They intertwine and are carried forward with us in all types of research and actions, even ones that are well meaning or aim to be liberational. When neurodivergence research ignores these mechanism, it risks reinforcing the very inequities it should challenge.
Image: A book that ‘Argues that a radical politics of neurodiversity is necessary, not only for neurodivergent folk, but for our collective liberation’ Professor Hel Spandler, editor, Asylum magazine
The risk of reproducing harm
Even within neurodivergent communities, there is a danger of replicating existing hierarchies. Identity politics, when co-opted by dominant systems, can become a tool for maintaining the status quo rather than dismantling it. Very often groups that are predominantly white adopt existing hierarchical communications methods, and do not have the space to discuss “negative things” – this kind of self-censorship is often amplified in neurodivergent groups. When topics of intersectionality arise, they are quickly brushed aside. Communications become stifled, members treated like children who can’t decide for themselves what is relevant or not – there are very obvious forms of hierarchies at play that are mimicking the outside world.
This is also visible in how some neurodivergence research has been used to uphold extractive systems. For example, innovations in industrial farming or behavioural science may draw on neurodivergent insights but instead of transforming harmful structures, they optimise them. Temple Grandin’s work is a prime example. Temple Grandin is an animal scientist who realised that the physical pressure she found so soothing would also calm down cows. She designed livestock systems to reduce stress in cattle, drawing on her autistic sensory insights – removing distractions, narrowing walkways, etc. Her work is widely used but debated for operating within industrial farming rather than challenging it.
The question is not just what we discover, but how those discoveries are used to challenge existing structures that are contributing to mass suffering, death and climate collapse. Neurodivergence does not inherently offer moral clarity. Pattern recognition and sensitivity to injustice can be powerful, but without grounding, they can be misdirected or even co-opted by harmful ideologies. Community, dialogue, and accountability are essential. Representation isn’t enough.
Expanding the field of neurodivergent studies beyond the human
One of the most radical expansions proposed by Ombre Tarragnat is the inclusion of non-human animals within the concept of neurodivergence. If neurodivergence refers to variation in nervous systems, why limit it to humans? That seems to be a totally illogical limitation as animals have brains too.
This shift has profound implications. It challenges speciesism and aligns with ecological and decolonial perspectives that see humans as part of a larger web of life, not the anthropocentric centre. It invites us to consider how industrial systems, particularly the animal agriculture complex, produce trauma and “madness” across species; for the animals subjected to extreme torture and the human beings working in these industries to the people and life on the planet subject to climate collapse to the systems of care we have in place.
We wouldn’t pour sewage into our drinking water so why fill an already overburdened society with more stress, sickness and devastation? Deeper research would be able to qualify and justify immediate change to e.g. corporate actors (like Nature Capital) running on GDP and quarterly reports.
From this perspective, neurodivergence research intersects with social justice, environmental justice, our food systems, veganism, and deep ecology. It becomes a lens for understanding the cost of ignoring interdependence, or what some traditions call interbeing: the idea that all forms of life are interconnected, and co-arising. It moves these views from being a nice add on to capitalism to being an absolute necessity for our collective survival as a species.
Image: Pink Waves, collaboration with Chaimaa Lahnin (@chailahnin.art on Instagram)
Neuroqueer, Neurotrans, and emerging frameworks
New theoretical frameworks are already pushing the boundaries of what neurodivergence can encompass. Neuroqueer and Neurotrans theories, for example, explore how neurodivergence intersects with gender and sexuality, not as separate identities, but as co-constructed experiences. These are incredibly important areas of studies for us all. The 1 percent of trans people are at the forefront of research into all our needs as biodiverse beings in nature, where transness is not an anomaly but an evolutionary model.
These perspectives challenge linear narratives of identity and transition. They reveal how heteronormativity and neurotypicality are mutually reinforcing systems that are destroying our capacity to evolve and adapt. Just as biomimicry is emerging field of science delivering real world solutions that are more effective and more climate resilient, new frameworks such as Neuroqueer and Neurotrans perform the same function: They highlight the importance of shared research outputs and co-creative, cross-disciplinary collaborative knowledge-making, rather than top-down siloed authority that has resulted in funnelling human creativity into the manufacturing of polycrisis.
Rethinking knowledge production
The future of neurodivergence research may not lie solely in traditional academia. Artists, community organisers, grassroots platforms and other clusters of care are already modelling alternative approaches. Spaces like Restfest and the work of artists such as Alexa Dexa demonstrate what inclusive, neurodivergent-friendly environments can look like and how these methods can be taken to other contexts. Their workshops incorporate accessibility from the ground up: flexible participation, processing time, co-creation, and care. They are hybrids of dharma sharing spaces, part quaker part Crafternoon. These are not just artistic experiments, they are prototypes for new forms of cocreation, learning, and researching. They suggest that knowledge is not only produced through intellectual analysis, but through relational awareness in lived relationships, embodiment, and shared experience.
Ecology, capitalism, and the limits of current thinking
To fully grasp the potential of neurodivergence research, we must also confront the broader systems shaping our world. Capitalism, colonialism, and extractive economies have produced not only environmental collapse but also profound disconnection, from each other, from our bodies, and from the natural world. This disconnection is epistemic as well as ecological; how we know what we know, how knowledge is formed, and how it is validated or challenged. Parameter design needs to be a skillset in all types of Research so we can clearly articulate and understand what it is that we don’t know as well as what we know. We are confined right now by the limits of what we consider “valid” knowledge and who gets to produce it. It reduces forests to resources, animals to commodities, and neurodivergence to pathology.
Intersectional neurodivergence research offers a way out of this narrowing. By integrating insights from ecology, feminism, decolonial theory, and beyond, it opens a vast, largely unexplored terrain that can quite literally save the world.
Towards Interbeing
“Interbeing” is a term coined by Thich Nhat Hanh that describes the deep interconnectedness and interdependence of all forms of life. At its most expansive, neurodivergence research points toward a philosophy of interbeing. Pattern recognition—a trait often associated with neurodivergence, it becomes a tool for perceiving connections: between systems of oppression, between species, between individual and collective wellbeing.
This is not just an intellectual exercise. It has practical implications for how we design spaces, build communities, and respond to global crises. If we design for the most marginalised, we create conditions that benefit everyone. Not because of a utilitarian logic, but because inclusion reflects the reality of our interconnectedness.
Neurodivergence research is not “just for us” neurodivergent people. It is for society as a whole. As we move through life, we will all encounter forms of disability, difference, and dependency. The question is whether we build systems that accommodate and celebrate this diversity, or ones that suppress and ignore it.
The potential of this field is immense in terms of navigating polyresponses to polycrisis. It is a mine of knowledge that extends far beyond its current scope. But realising that potential requires courage to question dominant paradigms, to embrace complexity, and to imagine radically different ways of being together.
Some resources & further exploration
– NeuroConvergences (EU platform)
– Ombre Tarragnat: ombretarragnat.com | ombre.tarragnat@gmail.com
– Currently reading Disability Rights UK article on Islamophobia, surveillance, and neurodivergent distress:
https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/addressing-islamophobia-surveillance-and-criminalisation-neurodivergent-distress-disability-and
Some social media accounts to follow
– Sienna (@sienna.stims)
– Lovette Jallow (@lovettejallow)
– Kaligirwa Namahoro (@blackspectrumscholar)
– Aiyana Goodfellow (@aiyana.goodfellow)
– Janella (@diversity_in_neurodiversity)
– Ayanna Sanaa Davis (@phenomenallyautistic)
– Timotheus “TJ” Gordon Jr. (@timotheusgordon)
– jadefarrington@substack.com
Some key themes & researchers
– Neuroqueer and neurotrans theory (e.g., work by Jordan Jack)
– Intersectionality (originating in Black feminist scholarship)
– Justice sensitivity and neurodivergence
– Ecology, speciesism, and deep ecology
– ND-informed veganism and food systems
Artistic & community practice
– Restfest Film Festival, www.restfestfilmfestival.org
– Alexa Dexa’s “Dreaming Our Futures + Embodying Our Dreams” crip ritual opera score: alexadexa.com/dreamingourfutures
– Neurodivergent sanghas in Plum Village, See www.plumline.org