The Impossible Subject: Belonging as a Neurodivergent in Congregations

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Waldock, K. E. (2023). The Impossible Subject: Belonging as a Neurodivergent in Congregations. Journal of Disability & Religion, 27(4), 568-583. https://doi.org/10.1080/23312521.2023.2249452

Journal or book title
Journal of Disability & Religion
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Volume
27
Issue
4
Pages
568-583
Publication date: 20 Aug 2023 Added to AutiHub: 7 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)
  1. Krysia Emily Waldock *

Abstract

Neurodivergent people have been reported in academic literature to not always feel a sense of belonging within church congregations. Previous scholarship has highlighted that some neurodivergent people may be stigmatized and/or excluded within congregational settings. However little attention has been paid to how neurodivergent people belong within congregations, especially from a neurodivergent perspective. Using an autoethnographic methodology, I interrogate my own personal narrative of belonging within congregational spaces. I blended Goffman’s social stigma theory and Scambler’s theorization of social stigma to examine a neurodivergent experience within church congregations, and to explore the interface between being neurodivergent and feeling a sense of belonging in a church congregation. This autoethnography highlights how impression management (particularly passing and masking) are central to the feelings of belonging, and lack of belonging, I experienced. How church is “done” also appears to influence feelings of belonging, with norms in the churches mentioned in the narrative often shaped by normalcy.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 14:04.

Cited references
58
With a DOI
37
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
21
5 / 58 (8.6%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
6 / 58 (10.3%)
References with detected author names
52 / 58 (89.7%)
Without detected author names
6
Without a structured title
5
Without a stable identifier
17
References with raw author names still to review
5
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
73
From DOI or external metadata
73
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
6
14 / 73 (19.2%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 59 / 73 (80.8%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
5 / 73 (6.8%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 5 / 14 (35.7%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 3 / 67 (4.5%).
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