According to Newcastle University, intersectionality is a term that was coined by Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989.
Intersectionality considers people’s overlapping identities and experiences. It is a framework for conceptualising a person, group of people, or social problem as affected by a number of discriminations and disadvantages. It allows you to think about how gender, class, race and other individual characteristics “intersect” with one another and overlap.
This is important as people identify with multiple characteristics (e.g. their race, gender, age) at the same time, and it’s the intersection of these that can determine the complexity of prejudices and discrimination that they encounter. Many everyday approaches to equality tend to focus on tackling one form of discrimination at a time, but intersectionality allows us to understand and address all the potential barriers an individual is facing.
Intersectionality is a complex term that is often mis-used and misunderstood. Paris Lees, a white, transgender activist, notes that it is not a case of liking intersectionality. It is about accepting that some people have more to struggle against than you.
Examples of intersectionality
Below are some examples of how individuals can face discrimination due to a combination of protected characteristics.
Gender Identification and Neurodiversity
Newcastle University explain that girls diagnosed with ADHD are doubly disadvantaged because of their gender compared to boys with the same diagnosis of ADHD (who, themselves, are disadvantaged compared to neurotypical students in schools). This is an intersection between gender and neurodiversity where there is a compounding effect of disadvantages. The disadvantages from overlap of gender and neurodiversity is because boys have been historically over-diagnosed with ADHD and girls have been under-diagnosed. ADHD presents in a greater proportion of girls as chattiness, daydreaming and shyness. These behaviours are overlooked in comparison to the typical behaviours boys with ADHD present with e.g., disruptiveness and interrupting others. This over-emphasis from psychologists and scientists on how boys present with ADHD is to the detriment of girls’ ADHD behaviour that tends to get overlooked.
Age and Neurodiversity
Many older neurodiverse people were never diagnosed as children and did not receive the necessary support when they were young. Autism, for example, first appeared in the DSM-III in 1980, and the term ‘neurodiversity’ was first coined in the 1990s. Most older individuals never heard of ADHD or autism prior to these years, let alone the term neurodiversity.
The National Autistic Society supported researchers from University College London (UCL) in undertaking a population-based study to better understand how many autistic people, both diagnosed and undiagnosed, are estimated to live in England. They found that there are approximately 750,000 undiagnosed autistic people aged 20 and above in England, meaning that the total autistic population in England would actually exceed 1.2 million people.
Without a professional diagnosis, the way neurodiverse people have likely grown up may differ from neurotypical people as they face a lack of tolerance, acceptance and understanding. They will have likely internalised stigma and misconceptions, as by the age of 12, a neurodivergent child has already received over 20,000 more negative messages from their parents, peers and teachers.
Undiagnosed, neurodiversity may have manifested as significant detriments to both people’s mental wellbeing at work and in their personal lives. In the context of the workplace, if someone is unaware of their neurodiversity, they are likely to face discrimination such as age discrimination, and not be protected by statute due to a lack of a professional diagnosis.
Socio-economic status and Neurodiversity
“We don’t talk a lot about class these days. Class is usually the domain of sociology professors and communists. However class or socio-economic status has a huge impact on people, especially (autistic) and neurodivergent people.” – Yenn Purkis
According to Ambitious about Autism, many autistic people are able and willing to work, yet the numbers that are able to do that are shockingly low. Just 29% of autistic people are in full or part-time employment, even though the vast majority want to work. This means that autistic and oftentimes neurodivergent people are forced into having a socio-economic status as they struggle to access income.
“Socio-economic status or class is an intersectional consideration. People living in poverty form an oppressed group and there is often an overlap with other intersectional groups. Autistic people often struggle to find suitable – or any – work for a variety of reasons. This means that many of us are living in poverty. Being poor and autistic is not good. For one thing it can mean that we struggle to access a diagnosis or support as these can cost money. It can be very frustrating to be unable to secure work. Autistic people often have a lot to offer the workplace but can’t secure employment due to issues with recruitment processes or bad experiences in the workplace. Many Disabled people live in poverty de to being unable to work. I have met lots of people who are amazed that I as an autistic person with schizophrenia should have a professional job. I want a world where me having a job isn’t remarkable.” – Yenn Purkis
Those from lower socio-economic backgrounds and employed people face further barriers to accessing the right support, as it can take up to 8 years to receive an assessment and diagnosis from the NHS. The ballpark estimate of a private autism / ADHD assessment for an adult in the UK falls within the range of £1900 to £3500, combined with the battle of national shortages on medication; the cost of which falls between £50 to £125 per month. Furthermore, talking therapy incurs the cost of £185 – £225 for an initial appointment, and then begins at £125 for one regular appointment.
LGBTQIA+ and Neurodiversity
Jack Griffiths has explored how the experiences of neurodivergent individuals and those who identify as LGBTQ+ often overlap in significant ways. Both groups frequently face the challenge of “passing,” where they must decide when and to whom they reveal invisible parts of their identities. Many navigate environments that are unwelcoming or even hostile, forcing them to hide aspects of themselves to avoid alienation or discrimination. Both neurodivergent behaviours and LGBTQ+ relationships can be demonised by others, resulting in social anxieties—whether it’s a neurodivergent person feeling hesitant to stim in public or a gay couple worrying about showing affection.
Additionally, members of both communities may have endured harmful therapies designed to ‘correct’ their identities. Gay individuals may have faced conversion therapy, while neurodivergent people, often encounter therapies that punish neurodivergent behaviour (Nichols). These approaches can erode self-esteem and make young people feel like they don’t belong. The effects are devastating, as a lack of social cohesion has been linked to poor mental health and elevated suicide rates.
The connections between the neurodivergent and LGBTQ+ communities go beyond similar experiences, as there are numerous individuals who are part of both. A University of Cambridge study has revealed that autistic people are more likely to be LGBTQ+, and studies have also demonstrated how neurodivergent youth identify as transgender more often than their neurotypical peers (Nichols). Existing at such an intersection, these people encounter unique roadblocks, receiving backlash for multiple aspects of their identities.
Mind gave a great example, explaining that some neurodiverse people find that LGBTQIA+ spaces are not accessible to them, such as Pride celebrations or dating apps.
Britt Burr has raised the following points:
“In a recent study, 247 autistic women were interviewed regarding their sexual orientation (Bush et al., 2021). Among them, over half reported that they fell on the asexual spectrum—i.e., never or rarely experiencing sexual desire. The other half identified as either demi-sexual (experiencing sexual desire only after a deep personal connection), bisexual, or pansexual. Only 8% (approx. 20 people) of the entire sample of 247, identified as strictly heterosexual.
There are also elevated rates of gender nonconformity among autistic populations (Warrier et al., 2020). The reasoning behind this is not entirely clear, but there is a prediction that it is attributed to the autistic trait of not conforming to social rules (Kallitsounaki et al., 2021). Because there is a divergence in interpreting certain social norms, autistic people are not bound by the conforms of society, thus they exhibit themselves how they want without social pressures weighing them down.
It is predicted that some queer individuals with invisible neurodivergence may have gone undiagnosed due to the social stigma surrounding the LGBTQIA+ community (Moreno et al., 2017). Sometimes queer people are met with derision when it comes to routine examinations and check-ups as they are forced to answer uncomfortable questions from often uneducated (in terms of queer culture edification) and unempathetic healthcare providers. This has possibly led to a discrepancy in neurodiverse LGBTQIA+ individuals receiving diagnoses–a diagnosis which could permit helpful accommodations.
There is more research that needs to be done, as these concepts are relatively new, hence the date of their publication. Nevertheless, the intersectionality between LGBTQIA+ individuals and neurodiversity cannot be overlooked. As always, there are outliers in research. Some people can be strictly gay, or strictly autistic—with no queer/neurodivergent markers, but all in all, a correlation is noticed here.”
