Gender identity, sexuality, neurodifferences and pride

Exploring the connection between neurominorities and LGBTQIA+

The neurodiversity and LGBTQIA+ movements are both social justice movements. Led by members of the communities in question to increase representation and public acceptance of different identities and experiences.

The history of abuse, stigma and discrimination against these diverse minorities has been felt at different points, but this has created a growing activism, and at times protest, to create changes in public understanding and fight for equal rights.

Neurominorities and LGBTQIA+ people are both protected under the Equality Act 2010 in the UK or similar legislation in various countries.

Educational institutions and workplaces are keenly aware of their legal responsibilities to foster inclusivity and provide appropriate support.

Interestingly, a 2020 LinkedIn report found there was a 58% increase in diversity and inclusion job postings between 2019 and 2020 across Europe and the Middle East. Employees in these roles had also seen steady growth at 67% over 5 years (LinkedIn, 2020).

The reality that increased diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) impacts business performance is starting to filter through. We are seeing a growing shift towards more inclusive cultures, practices, policies and initiatives.

However, neurodiversity is still lagging behind more widely discussed areas like gender and racial diversity. With only 7% of global companies having a neurodiversity plan in place, compared to 73% for gender and 11% sexual orientation (Universum, 2020).

When you work in DEI, you realise that all areas on DEI coexist, co-occur and intersect.

The term intersectionality was coined by Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, an American scholar and Professor of Law at UCLA and Columbia Law School, in 1989.

It helps us to understand that our different identities intersect and impact our experiences, how other people view us and sometimes increase the barriers we face.

For example, Black autistic women are more likely to be diagnosed later and also experience exclusion from research (Diemer et al, 2022).

If you’re not looking at all aspects of DEI, you not looking at all aspects of your people.

For many people, this complexity can feel scary.

But if you have the right people and right tools to help, you can reduce the fear, create real cultural change and get more people interested and engaged in championing diversity.

The most potent commonality is the focus on listening to people’s stories and learning from the communities and their lived experiences.

One such story is from Charlotte Amelia Poe, who wrote about their story of survival, hope and being autistic, asexual and non-binary in their book, How to Be Autistic:

“Knowing who you are, discovering who you are, can take a lifetime. If you’re never told about the options, if that sense of wrongness just settles within you, it can lead to a lifetime of torment. So I think it’s important that we have the discussion, that we allow autistic people to exist on the various LGBT+ spectrums as well as the autistic one. It doesn’t hurt anyone to acknowledge that that could be an option, and is, most likely, a reality.”

There are so many ways to be in this world, and it’s our diversity and ability to challenge expectations that sets us apart as humans.

Neurodiversity and identity research: Gender, sexual orientation and sense of self

If you’ve spent time looking through the research yourself, you’ve probably come across the name Professor Simon Baron-Cohen. One of the key figures in autism research, he works at the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge and developed the extreme male brain theory of autism (2002).

While this theory is not without criticism, Baron-Cohen’s wider research has led further studies into gender and autism.

One of his studies found that autistic individuals are more likely to be LGBTQ+ (Cambridge University, 2021). 

Another study, the largest of its kind, with five datasets including 641,860 people found that autistic people are more likely to be gender diverse than non-autistic people. The same study also found that transgender people, both men and women, are three to six times as likely to be autistic as cisgender people (Spectrum News, 2020).

This research provides more dimensions to the experiences of some autistic individuals and how we can support them more fully.

Though if you’re looking to understand the women who also pioneered research into understanding autism, then Dr Judith Gould and Dr Lorna Wing work in the 70s was responsible for the creation of a spectrum of autism.

Dr Judith Gould is also a renowned specialist in autism in women and girls.

You might notice that a lot of research focuses on autism and much of the academic research is strongest in this area.

But neurodiversity research is growing.

Initial research with ADHD and LGBTQIA+ adults suggests that they are more likely to be adventurous and have more mixed preferences of partners (Young et al, 2023).

Our neurodiversity and sense of identity are closely linked, understanding these differences and how they can inform or make us question our sense of self is important to recognise.

You can have an impact here.

To make yourself or your family, friends, colleagues and people around you feel respected and experience the dignity they deserve.

“I think the keys to a happier life are awareness and acceptance (both self- and society’s) of people’s differences, combined with knowledge and self-understanding. If both autism [alongside wider neurodiversity] and the whole spectrum of sexuality are discussed openly and sincerely in mainstream society, then maybe there will be more tolerance of people’s differences and this will lead to young people having the courage to be proud of who they are and not feeling so much pressure to conform.” (S. Hendrickx, 2015)