‘Neurodivergent literacies’: exploring autistic adults' ‘ruling passions’ and embracing neurodiversity through classroom literacies

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Bailey, C. (2023). ‘Neurodivergent literacies’: exploring autistic adults' ‘ruling passions’ and embracing neurodiversity through classroom literacies. Literacy, 57(2), 120-131. https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.12320

Publication date: 17 Apr 2023 Added to AutiHub: 7 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)
  1. Chris Bailey *

Abstract

Abstract The concept of neurodiversity has fuelled a social justice movement advocating for the rights of those whose lives diverge from a socially‐constructed default. However, deficit understandings of disability persist in educational settings and neurodivergent people continue to face disadvantage and discrimination in organisations constructed on normative understandings of the world. Although New Literacy Studies is concerned with ideas of power, dominance and worth, there is a notable lack of work that connects NLS with issues of neurodiversity. In this paper, I introduce the term ‘neurodivergent literacies’ to propose a field of study that links the ideological model of literacy with the neurodiversity paradigm. From this starting point, I outline a project that examined literacies around what are often referred to as the ‘special interests’ of autistic people. Presenting data from interviews with 13 neurodivergent adults, related to school experiences and the literacies they engage with around their self‐defined ‘ruling passions’, I make recommendations for literacies practitioners, arguing that schools need to do more to take account of difference and disability. By describing how ‘neurodivergent literacies’ can help teachers harness their own critical literacy skills to challenge deficit models of difference in the classroom, this paper illuminates how an understanding of neurodiversity is essential for anyone teaching and researching literacies with a commitment to social justice.

Bibliography cited by this reference

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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: 13 Sep 2026 01:04.

Cited references
60
With a DOI
50
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
10
8 / 60 (13.3%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
1 / 60 (1.7%)
References with detected author names
60 / 60 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
Without a structured title
1
Without a stable identifier
9
References with raw author names still to review
0
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
106
From DOI or external metadata
105
From validated raw bibliography text
1
Raw names already validated
1
Raw names still to review
0
33 / 106 (31.1%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 73 / 106 (68.9%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
8 / 106 (7.5%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 8 / 33 (24.2%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 7 / 96 (7.3%).
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