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

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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
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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.

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Cited references
41
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
15 / 41 (36.6%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
23 / 61 (37.7%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 23 / 41 (56.1%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 16 / 53 (30.2%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
41 / 61 (67.2%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 33 / 53 (62.3%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
18 / 41 (43.9%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 18 / 61 (29.5%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 17 / 33 (51.5%).
2 cited bibliography entries could not be fully enriched from DOI metadata.
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