Two authors who stand out for me as being on the leading edge of the emerging field of neuroqueer speculative fiction are Dora M. Raymaker and Ada Hoffmann. Neurodiversity is a biological fact. It’s not a perspective, an approach, a belief, a political position, or a paradigm. That’s the neurodiversity paradigm (see below), not neurodiversity itself.

In terms of the neurodiversity paradigm's presence in culture and community, it is very much a mixed bag. On one hand, the neurodiversity paradigm has been deeply meaningful and liberating for many people. And we're seeing more instances of positive and nonpathologizing neurodivergent representation in various media—the autistic character Entrapta, in the Netflix show She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, is one of my favorite recent examples. 19 On the other hand, the same problem that's arisen in the academic realm is also quite present in the broader culture: a whole lot of people have adopted some of the terminology of the neurodiversity paradigm, but are still thinking in ways that are rooted in the pathology paradigm. Dr. Raymaker : Ha! Speaking of where the neurodiversity paradigm—or the appropriation of it—can lead, that's a perfect segue into talking about the future! As far as where you think we should be going next, what's the most pressing short-term work both in terms of scholarship and practice? Another crucial step is to produce more and more literature, art, educational material, and entertainment that decenters the neurotypical perspective and the neurotypical gaze––in other words, work which not only is grounded in non-neuronormative perspectives, but also refuses to assume that the default reader or viewer is neurotypical.Cosmopolitanism is the open-minded embracing of human diversity. The cosmopolitan individual—or the cosmopolitan society—is comfortable with the vast spectrum of cultural and ethnic differences among people and appreciates and welcomes those differences as sources of aesthetic, intellectual, cultural, and creative enrichment. The cosmopolitan individual engages with diversity in a spirit of humility, respect, curiosity, and continual openness to learning, growth, uncertainty, complexity, and new experience.

Neuroqueer, then, is the idea that individuals who do not to conform to neurotypical standards are neurologically queer, further queering their bodyminds. Queerness begets more queerness. Not everyone who is Neurodivergent neuroqueers, but everyone who neuroqueers is Neurodivergent. Some might question if one might be able to unconsciously neuroqueer, we will explore this further in another article. My recent work has been published in Qualitative Inquiry, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, and the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies. The two paradigms—the pathology paradigm and the neurodiversity paradigm—are as fundamentally incompatible as, say, homophobia and the gay rights movement, or misogyny and feminism. In terms of discourse, research, and policy, the pathology paradigm asks, “What do we do about the problem of these people not being normal,” whereas the neurodiversity paradigm asks, “What do we do about the problem of these people being oppressed, marginalized, and/or poorly served and poorly accommodated by the prevailing culture?” This project reviewed extant literature related to the entanglement of children’s language with place. Walker gives other ways to practice neuroqueering in his blog post, which I will link below in the references. They range from theoretical thought experiments to social justice work methods. With a term this new and fluid, the possibilities are numerous. Using queer theory to examine the neurodivergent experience:Such neuroessentialism is inimical to neuroqueering, to creative neurofluidity and creative hybridity. I'm already seeing some people criticize or reject the neurodiversity movement, or even the very concept of neurodiversity, because it's too associated with essentialism and with sorting people into rigid categories by “type of brain.” But that sort of essentialism is by no means inherent to the neurodiversity paradigm; on the contrary, I think that to some degree it's a relic of the pathology paradigm that the neurodiversity movement just hasn't managed to finish outgrowing yet. Until we do outgrow it, it's a pitfall that has the unfortunate potential to derail our journey toward a neuroqueer future. Shannon, D.B. (2023) ' ‘Trajectories matter’: affect, neuroqueerness and music research-creation in an early childhood classroom.' Qualitative Inquiry, 29(1) pp. 200-211.

Shannon, D. B. (2020). Neuroqueering Noise: Beyond ‘mere inclusion’ in a neurodiverse early childhood classroom. Canadian Journal of Disability Studies. 9(5) (Open Access)What are your thoughts on using queer theory as a framework for understanding the neurodivergent movement and many autistic people’s relationship with gender, self-perception, and sexuality? A lot of neurodiversity scholarship so far has had a disability justice focus; it's been aimed at challenging the abuses engendered by the pathology paradigm, and working toward societal accommodation and inclusion of neurominorities. This is necessary work, and we still need a good deal more of it.

queer as not about who you’re having sex with, that can be a dimension of it, but queer as being about the self that is at odds with everything around it and has to invent and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live.” bell hooks The definitive, citable version of this essay, along with supplementary comments, can be found in my book Neuroqueer Heresies . Shannon, D. B. (July 2019). Sounding a neuroqueer future: Walking-composing in Northern England. Disability and Disciplines: The International Conference on Educational, Cultural, and Disability Studies (CDS). Liverpool, UK. Another term you use a lot is “neurocosmopolitan” or “neurocosmopolitanism.” Where does Neuroqueer Theory fit into a neurocosmopolitan world?Postgraduate Certificate in Education: Primary (Music semi-specialism), University of Exeter, 2012.