Neuroqueer Meaning: More than Just a Word

Part 1 of the Neuroqueer Series

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If you’ve spent time in the lively, overlapping worlds of queerness and neurodivergence, chances are the term neuroqueer has floated past you - like a bright little spark in a comment thread or post.

Maybe you felt your shoulders drop, thinking, That sounds like me - even if you couldn’t quite explain why.

Or perhaps it caught your attention in the way words can when they carry the promise of home.

So...what is neuroqueer?

Is neuroqueer an identity? A practice? A theory? A vibe? The short answer is yes. And also - it’s beautifully, gloriously complicated. That’s part of its magic.

This 5-part series is an open invitation to step into that magic.

We’ll explore where the word came from, how it evolved, how it moves through our lives, and why it unsettles - and liberates - so many people.

Whether you’ve been walking this road openly for years, or are just now noticing its shape beneath your feet, you belong here.

The word itself - neuroqueer meaning

At its most basic, neuroqueer meaning blends two identities that already resist definition. It’s not only a descriptor - “queer and neurodivergent” - though it can be.It’s also a verb, a way of living.

To neuroqueer something is to quietly - or boldly - refuse the pressure to perform normal.It’s unmasking, unstraightening, and loosening the grip of rules that say how minds and bodies should move, speak, or feel.

It’s not assimilation.

It’s joyful, creative defiance.

And for many of us, it’s also the slow and painful unlearning of survival habits we were told would keep us safe.

Where the word came from

The term neuroqueer was introduced by Nick Walker, a queer autistic scholar and writer, whose work is rooted in disability justice, queer theory, and lived experience.

Walker didn’t invent the experience - many of us were already living it.

But Walker gave it a name. And names can open doors no one even knew were locked.

That’s part of what makes this term so powerful.

It doesn’t just name a coexistence.

It creates a space where queerness and neurodivergence actively shape each other - messy, intertwined, alive.

They tangle and clarify and collide and illuminate.

And they make life feel, somehow, more real.

Not a gatekept club

Neuroqueer isn’t a title you have to earn.

There’s no test. No membership card. No password at the door.

If the word resonates - if it sparks recognition, if it makes your insides line up with something true - you can claim it. That’s enough.

And if it doesn’t fit today? That’s fine, too.

Some days it might feel like your favorite jacket. Other days, you might leave it on the hook.

Neuroqueer makes space for that kind of shifting. It doesn’t hand you new rules - it gives you permission to bend or break the old ones that never worked.

Where we're headed

This series isn’t here to lock down a definition.

It’s here to offer multiple doorways - so you can step through the ones that feel most alive for you.

Here's where we'll go next:

• Part 2: The History of Neuroqueer - how queer theory, disability studies, and the neurodiversity paradigm braided together to create the term, and how it has evolved since Nick Walker first introduced it.

• Part 3: Neuroqueering as Practice - bringing theory into the texture of daily life: relationships, creative work, language, masking and unmasking, and all the subtle, radical acts that make up living neuroqueer.

• Part 4: The Cultural Conversation - looking at the excitement, critiques, misunderstandings, and what’s at stake when communities embrace - or reject - this language.

• Part 5: Neuroqueer Futures - imagining the worlds we could build when we let queerness and neurodivergence fully shape our communities, our care, and our creative work.

More than just a word

For some of us, “neuroqueer” isn’t just language.

It’s the click of a lock finally opening.

It’s the deep exhale after years of holding yourself in.

It’s a chance to stop trying to fit into the outlines handed to you, and to start sketching something of your own.

The categories the world offers were never designed for us. But here’s the thing: we’ve always been designing our own ways of existing in the world.

Neuroqueer is one more tool in that ongoing, collective act of creation.

So welcome.

Pull up a chair.

Let’s see just how much room we can make in here.

--Elle

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Want to Keep Exploring?

This space is still new, but it’s already full of big questions, half-formed truths, and stories that might sound a little like yours.

If you’re curious where to go next, here are a few places to wander:

• Safety Nets I've Stitched for Myself: Why Autistic Safety Systems Matter

  For me, safety is about understanding how easily the world can misread me, how quickly my own brain can work against me if I push too hard, and how I’ve had to become both my own advocate and my own accommodation just to navigate the supposedly “ordinary” parts of life.

  
  

• When Narcissists Target Neurodivergent People

  Being tangled up with someone who twists your words, rewrites your memories, and makes you doubt what’s real is a hallmark of narcissistic abuse of neurodivergent people - and you are not imagining it.

  
  

• The Queer Neurodivergent Life Map Quickstart (free download)

  A gentle, self-paced journal for autistic, ADHD, AuDHD, queer or otherwise neurodivergent women who are ready to unmask, unlearn, and rewrite their story from the inside out.

Or, if you just want to be here quietly, you can join the list and I’ll send new things your way when they’re ready. No pressure. No performance.

I love that you’re here.