Neuroqueer theory is a framework that intersects the fields of neurodiversity and queer theory. It examines the ways society constructs and defines normalcy, particularly concerning gender, sexual orientation, and dis/ability, and challenges those constructions. It critiques the pathologization of neurodivergent individuals and the ways in which this intersects with the marginalization of queer individuals.
The term neuroqueer can be used as a verb, adjective, or identity label. As a verb, it refers to the act of challenging neuronormativity and heteronormativity, as well as advocating for recognition and celebration diverse experiences and identities. As an adjective, neuroqueer describes phenomena, theories, or identities that challenge neuronormativity and heteronormativity, emphasizing the intersections and diversity of queer and neurodivergent identities and experiences. Individuals who identify as neuroqueer are often neurodivergent and queer, though this is not a necessity. Nick Walker, who initially coined the term, has indicated that neurotypical, cisgender, heterosexual individuals may also identity as neuroqueer if they are actively challenging neuronormativity and heteronormativity, especially if they are challenging the existing categorizations of gender, dis/ability label, or sexual orientation.
Neuroqueer theory grew from the existing fields of disability studies and queer theory. The former arose as a field of scholarship in the 1970s following the disability rights movement and sought to center the perspectives of people with disabilities, as well as challenge existing understandings of disability. This resulted in the social model of disability, which views disability as a societal failure rather than an individual deficit. For example, the social model of disability argues that a deaf person is disabled not by their inability to hear but rather by societal structures that privilege hearing; as such, to reduce barriers, social should provide greater access for deaf people, such as access to sign language interpreters and audio captioning, rather than asking the deaf person to use hearing aids and cochlear implants.
Since the rise of disability studies and the disability rights movement, both scholars and people with disabilities have critiqued the focus on people with physical impairments, often to the detriment of those who have disabilities related to the mind, as well as people with chronic illnesses. This resulted in the development of Mad studies and other disciplines. The term neurodivergence arose in the 1990s "to disrupt deficit-laden narratives of dis/abilities related to the mind, particularly autism" and has since been used "to promote discourses of diversity in terms of neurological functioning and performance". Further, many advocates and scholars argued against person-first language when referring to neurodivergence as they saw neurodivergence as an identity, not a diagnosis. As such, "to place dis/abled, autistic, or neurodivergent after the preposition ‘with’ is to view the corresponding term as a pejorative, a negative association that should be separated from one's personhood".
Queer theory emerged in the 1990s to analyze and challenge heteronormativity. Queer theorists have often used the verb to queer to refer to the act of idealizing and inventing "an always-becoming-future by looking and examining the world (and the actions occurring within it) in ways that have not yet been imagined".
Nick Walker coined the term neuroqueer in 2008, though Athena Lynn Michaels-Dillon had also independently coined the phrase, and Remi Yergeau had been considering the concept, as well, referring to it as neurological queerness. Walker used the term in relation to queer theory to "examin[e] how socially-imposed neuronormativity and socially-imposed heteronormativity were entwined with one another, and how the queering of either of those two forms of normativity entwined with and blended into the queering of the other one." The word neuroqueer first appeared in print on the back cover of Michaels-Dillon's novel Defiant (2015) and in Yergeau's Authoring Autism (2018).
The use of neuroqueer has since grown to refer to a field of academic study, as well as an identity label. Those who claim "a neuroqueer identity recognize that discourses of person-first language or celebrated differences do not shift ableist constructions of neurological functioning as they purport to do", given that "ableism systematically and systemically constructed what it means to be ‘normal’", which excludes neurodivergent and queer individuals. As such, individuals who claim a neuroqueer identity "deliberately dissociate with ableist assimilation practices by purposefully resisting conformity while finding pride in one’s selfhood. This act, in turn, queers what it means to exist, act, and perform in social spheres."
Neuroqueer was initially conceptualized as a verb—neuroqueering—as a way of "queering [...] neurocognitive norms as well as gender norms". Walker has indicated that, as a verb, neuroqueer "refers to a broad range of interrelated practices", and "as an adjective, it describes things that are associated with those practices or that result from those practices".
Nick Walker, Athena Lynn Michaels-Dillon, and Remi Yergeau established the following eight integral components:
Although these core concepts have been described, Walker and others argue that the neuroqueer community often "actively resist[s] any authoritative definition". As such, any "conceptualization should not be viewed as comprehensive or definitive. Never static, the term neuroqueer is fluid, shifting, and always adapting".
Neurodivergence has been pathologized and associated with various conditions, including autism, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, and specific learning differences, among others. Neuroqueer theory aims to depathologize such differences and as such, has implications across diverse sectors, including education and research.
Because neurodivergence has been pathologized, educational institutions generally view neurodivergence as a deficit and focus on what students are not able to do or learn. Therefore, such institutions veer "toward rehabilitative, behaviorist, and interventionist approaches, seeking to remediate students who do not perform in socially acceptable ways of acting, being, and learning in schools". Similarly, educational research regarding neurodivergent individuals "habitually emphasizes evidence-based practices to promote the improvement of students’ academic skills across content areas based on discrete measures of performance". Neuroqueer theory rejects the pathologization of neurodivergence and thus "rejects pedagogical approaches and research inquiries that seek to ‘fix’ students, so they present similarly to their ‘typical peers.’" As Kleekamp describes, "future neuroqueer educational possibilities serve to reframe educational spaces, including higher education, for students at the intersections of normalized expectations related to gender, sexuality, and dis/ability". Importantly, neuroqueer theory
creates space for a wide range of research and pedagogical aspirations seeking to restory the experiences of students who have not often been centered as legitimate classroom actors nor honored for their unique educational contributions. In turn, to center and imagine from a neuroqueer perspective serves education in moving toward a more radically inclusive pedagogical and research future.
Through popular media and research, dis/abled people are often viewed as asexual and agender, especially "when they are unable to meet typical performative expectations", as is common for neurodivergent people. This not only leads to the infantilization of dis/abled people but can also restrict access to certain communities, resources, and support; this is especially of concern for individuals who also identify as LGBT+.