Written by The Intersectional Neurodiversity Reading Group London and the FSA are holding an online event on Feminist Perspectives on Neurodiversity and Neuronormativity on Friday 29th January 2021.
In recent years, there has been an exponential growth of intersectional theory, feminist and trans(feminist) activism, and an emerging field of neurodiversity studies. Neurodiversity is a social and political category that refers to neurodivergent people – i.e. dyslexics, ADHDers, dyspraxics, Tourette(r)s, dyscalculics and autistics – and neurotypical people. Rejecting the medical or individual model of disability, a neurodiversity perspective recognises that neurodiversity functions as an organising principle of society: ‘neuronormativity’ – i.e. norms of neurotypicality and neuroableism – structurally privileges neurotypical people and disadvantages neurodivergent people. At the same time, there is an increasing intersectional awareness of how neurodiversity – including both neurodivergence and neurotypicality – is marked by gender and cis-trans specificities and inequalities as well as by race, class, sexuality and, for instance, geopolitical location. This understanding, then, does not approach neurodiversity ‘neutrally’: its baseline is to support struggles against not only neuro-ableism (including saneism and ableism) and sexism and misogyny, but also anti-black and other forms of racism, Islamophobia, transphobia and trans-exclusion, classism, and sexuality-based oppression. However, there remains a gap in knowledge production about these complexities.
With three interdisciplinary panels, the webinar Feminist Perspectives on Neurodiversity and Neuronormativity seeks to contribute to this discussion. Find the programme below.
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Sign up for Feminist Perspectives on Neurodiversity and Neuronormativity
The event is free but spaces are limited. Please book your ticket via Eventbrite.
- The presentations have been pre-recorded, and include (automatic) captions for neurodivergent and ESOL participants.
- The Q&A is live.
- The panels will have BSL interpretation.
- Organisation webinar: Feminist Studies Association UK & Ireland (FSA)
- For access and other questions, contact the FSA: contact@the-fsa.co.uk.
PROGRAMME WEBINAR
Panel 1: 11.30am-12.35pm GMT (UK time)
Narratives of Gendered Violence and Neurodivergent Survivors
Morrigan Hunter, Portland State University
Neuronormative Perspectives and Women with Sickle Cell Disorder
Myrle Blaine, University of Derby
Gender Panic and Autistic Childhood
Dr.des. Toby Atkinson, Lancaster University
Panel 2: 2-3.20pm GMT (UK time)
“I’m Always Doing a Billion Things”: Busyness as a Strategic Coping Mechanism for AD[H]D Women
Katya (Kate) Sullivan, Heriot-Watt University
Who Cares if Neurodivergence “Makes” us Queer?
Alyssa Hillary Zisk, University of Rhode Island
Autistic Disruptions, Trans Temporalities: A Narrative “Trap Door” in Time
Dr Jake Pyne, York University
Voice (less)? How do Memoirs (On-line and Off-line) by Autistic People Challenge Feminist Concepts and Methods Relating to Voice?
Prof Anna Reading, King’s College London
Panel 3: 4.30-5.35pm GMT (UK time)
“Your Father was a Computer”: Exploring how Autism became Associated with White Technocratic Masculinity in the Mid-20th Century
Elizabeth Maher, University of Illinois at Chicago
An Intersectional Reading of Work on Neurodivergent Spatialities
Dr Eric Olund, University of Sheffield
‘Tools, Tips and Tricks’: An Analysis of Gendered Neuronormativity in Self-Help Literature About and For ADHD Women
Dr Dyi Huijg, University of Roehampton