Neuroqueer embodiment and nomadic subjectivity in autistic life writing

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

About the autistic author marker

Selvam, B. J. & B, M. (2026). Neuroqueer embodiment and nomadic subjectivity in autistic life writing. Medical Humanities, medhum-2025-013552. https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2025-013552

Publication date: 9 Mar 2026 Added to AutiHub: 4 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
2
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 2 (50.0%)

Abstract

Autistic life writing refers to first-hand accounts of autistic lived experiences which challenge dominant deficit-based understandings of autism. Within autistic life writing, texts that directly address the relationship between autism, gender identity and sexuality have recently increased in number. However, scholarly work on the subject of neuroqueer embodiment (intentional expression of neurodivergence that queers both neuronormative and heteronormative standards) within these narratives is limited. This gap is particularly evident when considering anthologies that present multiple autobiographical narratives together in one textual space. This paper examines neuroqueer embodiment as represented in Spectrums: Autistic Transgender People in Their Own Words, an anthology of autistic life narratives edited by Maxfield Sparrow, using a feminist new materialist lens. Specifically, we use Rosi Braidotti’s nomadic subjectivity to explore neuroqueer embodiment. Nomadic theory emphasises the fluid nature of subjectivity and argues for a non-essentialist view of identity that is continually in the process of becoming. Using reflexive thematic analysis (RTA), four interconnected themes are identified: neuroqueer sensorimotor experiences, self-discovery, fluid identity and neuroqueer community, that collectively constitute a challenge to normative assumptions about cognition, gender identity and sexuality, opening up new onto-epistemic possibilities. Overall, this study attempts to (1) expand neuroqueer theory by emphasising the materiality of neuroqueer embodiment as expressed in life writing, (2) contribute to critical autism studies by offering a new interpretive framework for understanding the intersection between autism, gender and sexuality, and (3) contribute to medical humanities by demonstrating how neuroqueer embodiment challenges existing clinical frameworks which try to understand this intersection.

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: 12 Sep 2026 18:17.

Cited references
91
With a DOI
72
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
19
19 / 91 (20.9%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
19 / 91 (20.9%)
References with detected author names
72 / 91 (79.1%)
Without detected author names
19
Without a structured title
18
Without a stable identifier
19
References with raw author names still to review
18
References with external metadata lookup issues
1
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
108
From DOI or external metadata
108
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
22
47 / 108 (43.5%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 61 / 108 (56.5%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
29 / 108 (26.9%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 29 / 47 (61.7%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 24 / 101 (23.8%).
  1. Jim Sinclair *Autistic author. Learn more… (2010). Being Autistic Together . Disability Studies Quarterly, 30(1). The Ohio State University Libraries.
  2. Dan Ackerman (2020). Face the Strange . Spectrums, 54-57. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  3. Stephan Ehlers , Christopher Gillberg (1993). The Epidemiology of Asperger Syndrome . Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 34(8), 1327-1350. Wiley.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  4. Noah Adams *Autistic author. Learn more… , Bridget Liang *Autistic author. Learn more… (2020). Trans and Autistic . Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  5. Joyce Davidson , Sophie Tamas (2016). Autism and the ghost of gender . Emotion, Space and Society, 19(October), 59-65. Elsevier BV.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  6. Stacy Alaimo (2008). Material Feminisms . Indiana University Press.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  7. G. Thomas Couser (2000). “The Empire of the ‘Normal’: A Forum On Disability and Self-Representation: Introduction” . American Quarterly, 52(2), 305. Project MUSE.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  8. S. L. Amrutha , Luke Gerard Christie (2024). Neuroqueering sexuality: Learning from the life‐writings of queer neurodivergent women . Sociology Compass, 18(2). Wiley.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  9. Virginia Braun , Victoria Clarke (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology . Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. Informa UK Limited.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  10. (n.d.). Anderson B. 1983. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Verso.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  11. Irene Rose (2008). Autistic autobiography or autistic life narrative? Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, 2(1), 44-54. Liverpool University Press.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  12. Amanda Apgar (2017). “Becoming Narratives: The Entanglement of Ability, Gender, Sexuality, and Time in ‘Special Needs’ Memoirs” . Journal of Narrative Theory, 47(3), 357. Project MUSE.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  13. Rosemarie Garland-Thomson (2011). Misfits: A Feminist Materialist Disability Concept . Hypatia, 26(3), 591-609. Cambridge University Press (CUP).
    Crossref OpenAlex
  14. Brian James Baer (2020). Queering the gay anthology, part I . In Queer Theory and Translation Studies (pp. 82-105). Routledge.
    Type: Book chapter DOI: 10.4324/9781315514734-4 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W3040071346
    Crossref OpenAlex
  15. Rosi Braidotti (2014). “Writing as a Nomadic Subject” . Comparative Critical Studies, 11(2–3), 163. Edinburgh University Press.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  16. Jessica Penwell Barnett (2024). Neuroqueer frontiers: Neurodiversity, gender, and the (a)social self . Sociology Compass, 18(6). Wiley.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  17. Jordynn Jack (2012). “Gender Copia: Feminist Rhetorical Perspectives on an Autistic Concept of Sex/Gender” . Women’s Studies in Communication, 35(1), 1. Informa UK Limited.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  18. Simon Baron-Cohen (2002). The extreme male brain theory of autism . Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6(6), 248-254. Elsevier BV.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  19. Jillian Sandell (2003). “This Bridge Called My Book: Anthologies of Women’s Life Writing and the Problem of Community” . Prose Studies, 26(1–2), 278. Informa UK Limited.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  20. (n.d.). Bastow C., and Case J.. 2025. Someone Like Me: An Anthology of Non-Fiction by Autistic Writers. Verve Books.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  21. Elie B (2020). My Path of Life . Spectrums, 160-163. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  22. Rosi Braidotti (2012). Nomadic ethics . In The Cambridge Companion to Deleuze (pp. 170-197). Cambridge University Press.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  23. Mayne Souza Benedetto (2026). The “Dual Masking Phenomenon”: A Critical Autoethnography of an Autistic Multiracial Latina Amid the Presence of White Autistic Researchers and Self-Advocates . Autism in Adulthood, 8(4), 710-719. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  24. Derek Glidden , Walter Pierre Bouman , Bethany A. Jones , Jon Arcelus (2016). Gender Dysphoria and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review of the Literature . Sexual Medicine Reviews, 4(1), 3-14. Oxford University Press (OUP).
    Crossref OpenAlex
  25. (n.d.). Benedict B. M. 1996. Making the Modern Reader: Cultural Mediation in Early Modern Literary Anthologies. Princeton University Press.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  26. (n.d.). Boaz M., Barker M.-J., Smith D. van D., et al. 2024. “Features of NeuroQueer Existential-Phenomenology (Report of the Renewing Phenomenological Psychopathology Small Grant from the University of Birmingham and Wellcome Trust)”. London Existential Academy / New School of Psychotherapy & Counselling
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  27. J Davidson (2013). Worlds of Autism . University of Minnesota Press.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  28. Leni Van Goidsenhoven (2017). “‘Autie-Biographies’: Life Writing Genres and Strategies from an Autistic Perspective” . Journal of Language, Literature and Culture, 64(2), 79. Informa UK Limited.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  29. (n.d.). Braidotti R. 2011. Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory. 2nd ed. Columbia University Press.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  30. Anna I.R. van der Miesen , Peggy T. Cohen-Kettenis , A. de Vries (2018). “Is There a Link Between Gender Dysphoria and Autism Spectrum Disorder?” . Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 57(11), 884. Elsevier BV.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  31. Jungah Kim (2019). “Nomadic Narrative in Charlotte Brontë’s Villette” . Humanities, 8(2), 65. MDPI AG.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.3390/h8020065 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2922840575
    Crossref OpenAlex
  32. Virginia Braun , Victoria Clarke (2023). Toward good practice in thematic analysis: Avoiding common problems and be(com)ing a knowing researcher . International Journal of Transgender Health, 24(1), 1-6. Informa UK Limited.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  33. Robert Chapman *Autistic author. Learn more… (2023). Empire of Normality . Pluto Press.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  34. Varun Warrier , David M. Greenberg , Elizabeth M Weir , Clara Buckingham , Paula Smith , Meng-Chuan Lai et al. (2020). Elevated rates of autism, other neurodevelopmental and psychiatric diagnoses, and autistic traits in transgender and gender-diverse individuals . Nature Communications, 11(1), 1. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  35. Andren Copass (2020). Finding Myself: In Parallel . Spectrums, 191-193. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  36. Bouke de Vries (2022). “Should Autists Have Cultural Rights?” . Human Rights Review, 23(2), 205. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  37. Patrick Hayes (2022). The Oxford History of Life-Writing . Oxford University Press.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  38. Sharon L. Snyder , David T. Mitchell (2006). Cultural Locations of Disability . University of Chicago Press.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  39. Arthur W. Frank (1995). The Wounded Storyteller . University of Chicago Press.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  40. Anna Day *Autistic author. Learn more… , Meaghan Krazinski (2024). Autistic Identity as a Springboard into Exploring Queerness, Embodiment, and Relationality . In Exploring Autistic Sexualities, Relationality, and Genders (pp. 96-117). Routledge.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  41. (n.d.). Deleuze G., and Guattari F.. 1987. Translated by Massumi B.. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. University of Minnesota Press.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  42. Margaret Price (2011). Mad at School . University of Michigan Press.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  43. Ian Hacking (2009). Autistic autobiography . Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1522), 1467-1473. The Royal Society.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  44. Julia Miele Rodas (2018). Autistic Disturbances . University of Michigan Press.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  45. Chloe Farahar *Autistic author. Learn more… (2022). Autistic identity, culture, community, and space for well-being . In The Routledge International Handbook of Critical Autism Studies (pp. 229-241). Routledge.
  46. Sidonie Smith , Julia Watson (2002). Reading Autobiography . University of Minnesota Press.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  47. Alyssa Hillary Zisk *Autistic author. Learn more… (2020). Autist/Biography . In The Palgrave Handbook of Auto/Biography (pp. 315-339). Springer International Publishing.
  48. Anna Reading (2022). “Rewilding Memory” . Memory, Mind & Media, 1. Cambridge University Press (CUP).
    Crossref OpenAlex
  49. (n.d.). Gratton F. V. 2019. Supporting Transgender Autistic Youth and Adults: A Guide for Professionals and Families. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  50. Damian Milton *Autistic author. Learn more… (2022). A personal account of neurodiversity, academia and activism . In The Routledge International Handbook of Critical Autism Studies (pp. 150-156). Routledge.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  51. Ian Hacking (1996). The looping effects of human kinds . Causal Cognition, 351-383. Oxford University Press.
    Crossref
  52. Alyssa Hillary Zisk *Autistic author. Learn more… (2020). Autistic, Non-binary, and Still Learning . Spectrums, 164-172. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  53. Mary Peachey , Laura Crane (2024). Exploring gender experiences in nonbinary autistic adults . Autism Adulthood, 6(4), 462. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  54. Hayden James (2020). Late to the Party . Spectrums, 127-132. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  55. Christopher W. Koekemoer (2024). Queer African literary communities: The anthology as political genre . Literator, 45(1). AOSIS.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  56. Jordan (2020). A Transtistic Evolution . Spectrums, 152-159. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  57. Alison Kafer (2013). Feminist, Queer, Crip . Indiana University Press.
    Crossref
  58. Verena Sperk (2025). “‘There Is Beauty in the Way That I Think.’ Exploring Autistic Life Narrative in Cultural Texts of Hannah Gadsby” . Australian Feminist Studies, 40(124–125), 296. Informa UK Limited.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  59. (n.d.). Kapp S. K. 2020. Autistic Community and the Neurodiversity Movement: Stories from the Frontline. Palgrave Macmillan. https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20 . 500. 12657/23177/1/1006976.pdf.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  60. (n.d.). 2026030910200920000_medhum-2025-013552v1. 47
    Crossref
  61. Rae Kersley (2020). Steps to an Identity . Spectrums, 194-198. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  62. Eryn Star (2020). Gender Epiphany . Spectrums, 183-187. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  63. (n.d.). Koloni R. 2019. Neuroqueering Gender. University of Mary Washington. https://scholar.umw.edu/student_research/372
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  64. Marianthi Kourti *Autistic author. Learn more… (2021). Working with Autistic Transgender and Non-Binary People . Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  65. (n.d.). McGregor C. 2023. “Mad Pride”. Sydney Review of Books. https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/mad-pride . Accessed 13 Dec 2025.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  66. (n.d.). McRuer R. 2006. Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability. NYU Press.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  67. (n.d.). Mendes E. A., and Maroney M. R., eds. 2019. Gender Identity, Sexuality and Autism: Voices from across the Spectrum. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  68. Megan Talbot (2020). The Power of Perspective . Spectrums, 91-100. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  69. Lee N (2020). One Step at a Time . Spectrums, 219-225. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  70. Qwyrdo (2020). A Letter to My Parents . Spectrums, 76-80. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  71. Yenn (Jeanette) Purkis *Autistic author. Learn more… (2020). My Gender Is Yenn: A Coming Out Story . Spectrums, 69-75. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  72. Patil (2023). “Sensory Processing Differences in Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Narrative Review of Underlying Mechanisms and Sensory-Based Interventions” . Cureus, 15(10).
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  73. Devin S. Turk (2020). The Realest Parts of Me . Spectrums, 62-65. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  74. Joelle Smith (2020). My Body . Spectrums, 20-27. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  75. (2020). Spectrums . Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  76. Anna Reading (2025). Autistic Dreaming . Berghahn Books.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  77. (n.d.). Singer J. 1999. “Why Can’t You Be Normal for Once in Your Life? From a ‘Problem’ With No Name’ to the Emergence of a New Category of Difference”. In Disability Discourse, edited by Corker M. and French S., 59–67. Open University Press.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  78. (n.d.). Strauss J. N. 2013. “Autism as Culture”. In The Disability Studies Reader, edited by Davis LJ., 460–84. Routledge.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  79. (n.d.). Thomson R. G. 1997. Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature. Columbia University Press.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  80. Ukwueze (2023). “Nomadic Consciousness and Border Crossing in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater” . Comparative Literature, 7(1), 65.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  81. (n.d.). Walker N. 2021. Neuroqueer Heresies: Notes on the Neurodiversity Paradigm, Autistic Empowerment, and Postnormal Possibilities. Autonomous Press.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  82. (n.d.). Wendell S. 1996. The Rejected Body: Feminist Philosophical Reflections on Disability. Routledge.
    Type: Other
    Crossref