Neurodiversity, Networks, and Narratives: Exploring Intimacy and Expressive Freedom in the Time of Covid‐19

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. six authors of this publication are identified as autistic in the project.

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Betts, K., Creechan, L., Cawkwell, R., Finn‐Kelcey, I., Griffin, C., Hagopian, A., Hartley, D., Manalili, M., Murkumbi, I., O’Donoghue, S., Shanahan, C., Stenning, A., & Zisk, A. H. (2022). Neurodiversity, Networks, and Narratives: Exploring Intimacy and Expressive Freedom in the Time of Covid‐19. Social Inclusion, 11(1), 60-71. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v11i1.5737

Publication date: 26 Oct 2022 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
13
Publication authors identified as autistic
6 / 13 (46.2%)
  1. Kerri Betts
  2. Louise Creechan
  3. Rosemarie Cawkwell *
  4. Isabelle Finn‐Kelcey
  5. Cozette Griffin *
  1. Alice Hagopian
  2. David Hartley
  3. Marie Manalili *
  4. Inika Murkumbi
  5. Sarinah O’Donoghue *
  1. Cassandra Shanahan
  2. Anna Stenning *
  3. Alyssa Hillary Zisk *

Abstract

The Narratives of Neurodiversity Network (NNN) is a neurodivergent academic, creative, and educator collective that came together with allies during the Covid-19 pandemic to create a network centred around emerging narratives about neurodiversity and exploring new ways of learning and socialising. The network focuses on exploring the roles of written, spoken, and visual narratives across cultural locations about neuro-atypical experiences in generating improved agency and self-advocacy for those who have been subject to pathologization through neuro-normativity and intersecting oppression. During the last year, widening access to digital platforms has provided a space to explore these issues outside of traditional academic spaces. We run a monthly "Salon," our mixed-media "reading, listening, and watching" group, in an effort to find positive representation within contemporary culture. Discussions have moved beyond mimesis and into a consideration of how narrative and storyworlds can question the supposed naturalness of certain ways of being in and perceiving the world. This article interrogates the network's core principles of nonhierarchical co-production, including the roles of creativity, community, identity, and emancipatory research which were animated by the new techno-social context. We consider the cultural lives of neurodiversity in the West and beyond, including ethical and aesthetic dimensions. We share a faith in the power of storytelling to inform new social identities for neurodivergent people and to inform scientific understandings of atypical cognition. In exploring this, we speak through a porous first-person plural narrator, to unsettle the idea that there is a hegemonic "we" speaking on behalf of all neurodivergent people.

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 08:04.

Cited references
41
With a DOI
26
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
13
16 / 41 (39.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
14 / 41 (34.1%)
References with detected author names
27 / 41 (65.9%)
Without detected author names
14
Without a structured title
13
Without a stable identifier
13
References with raw author names still to review
14
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
61
From DOI or external metadata
61
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
21
46 / 61 (75.4%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 15 / 61 (24.6%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
25 / 61 (41.0%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 25 / 46 (54.3%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 18 / 53 (34.0%).
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