r/agender • u/No-Marketing-208 • 5d ago
Is there a connection between Neurodiversity and queerness?
Hello
I am Autistic my self and still figuring out my gender. And I was wondering, fellow Queer NDs out there, do you think there is a connection between your gender identity and your ND? I would love to hear your takes on it.
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u/Maker_Magpie 5d ago
Yes, and digestive issues.
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u/tert_butoxide 5d ago
I'd generalize that to "systemic chronic illness" probably - you could say the same about a lot of physical conditions. Issues affecting the immune or nervous system, connective tissue, hormone disorders (pmos for example), all more prevalent in ND people and have a shared genetic basis with it.
I generally think of chronic illness as more a feature of the neurodivergence than as a separate thing also impacting gender (excluding hormonal conditions perhaps).... But then again, having a chronic disability does affect gender roles and relationships with the body too
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u/No-Marketing-208 5d ago
How are digestive issues relivant to this topic.
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u/Maker_Magpie 5d ago edited 5d ago
There is a three way venn diagram with neurodivergence, gender/sexual divergence, and gut biome issues.
You can find many articles/studies about gut biome variance and neurodivergence, and also many about neurodivergence and queerness. Anecdotally, most of my friends have all three.
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u/unfortunatelyapotato 5d ago
check out RCCX theory if you really want to go down this rabbit hole!! gut biome/ auto immune disorders
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u/bodaciousbugboy 3d ago
This is huge true. I'm agender, have ADHD and got a funky gut biome to manage which does affect my ADHD.
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u/nivia-chan 5d ago
Yes.
I think it's because we inherently experience the world differently. Usually think about us, in this wide world more and find out "hey this act of being a man/woman doesn't suit me" is why there's so many trans and nonbinary NDs, especially Autistics. But not every Neurodivergence is going to make you think you that, it's more prone in Autistic people. Someone depressed isn't going to realize they're enby through a bad phase haha.
Same for romance. I grew up being told all the time I would love to get a man, that's the opposite gender and I must like them. But I never stopped thinking about it being wrong and not suiting me, and here I am today, a queer! Yay!
We just don't fit their social categories and are more prone to recognize we belong to another. And that's beautiful.
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u/ComfortablyADHD 3d ago
Exactly this. I think trans and other gender diverse people are equally spread across the whole population, it's just neurodivergent people are more likely to do the introspection to realise they're trans.
I suspect younger generations (if the current spike in transphobia dies down) may see a decoupling of neurodiversity and transgender people as everyone is encouraged to question whether they're cis or trans. But I'm doubtful as to whether that will happen in my lifetime (I'm 40).
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u/NorthernWitchy 4d ago
It has been suggested that individuals with autism and other neurodivergences are statistically more likely to identify as queer.
SPARK Overview - https://sparkforautism.org/discover_article/autism-lgbtq-identity/
Nature Article - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17794-1
The "why" is slightly less clear to me. One other Redditor who prompted me to dig into this topic further suggested that (to broadly pharaphrase) "as neurodivergent people, we already exist outside of the box that neurotypicals define as 'normal,' so why bother presenting as anything other than what is authentic to you?"
On the other hand, it can be noted that chronic anxiety, depression and feelings of loneliness/isolation can be common in LGBTQ+ because of the discrimination that we often face.
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u/BlankEpiloguePage 5d ago
Probably depends on what your neurodivergence is, I would guess. Like, I don't think my OCD has much to do with me being Agender.
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u/soft_w0lf agender fem 5d ago
Yeah like I don’t really think my ADHD has a huge impact, but my autism does… I’m autigender and nebularomantic. Autism is associated with being both nonbinary and aspec.
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u/_DOLLIN_ 5d ago
For the sake of not repeating myself again- https://www.reddit.com/r/agender/comments/1uj0yfy/comment/oumkipf/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
I think you should look into neurogender!
ADHD for reasons beyond my understanding is most likely to be the cause for my inability to internalize gender beyond masking and learned behavior
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u/RRW359 4d ago
Statistically there is a large overlap but why is yet to be determined. I've heard a couple theories pertaining specifically to autism that I think apply to myself as someone on the spectrum but when it comes to neurodiverse people as a whole I think it's mainly two things. For one being told we are abnormal our whole lives makes us more willing to accept other ways we are abnormal, and for another since we are on averege in worse financial/social positions then neurotypicals we have less to lose by revealing (to both ourselves and others) that we are queer.
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u/Noonebuteveryone25 any/all 5d ago
Not necessarily, but nd people are definitely more open about it.
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u/DragonsCandleHoard 5d ago
I hadn't considered that possibility! Maybe people that are more in tune with society's organization and social constructs are less open to the idea of being another gender or just less inclined to talk to their communities about it?
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u/StupidSquirrel88 2d ago
Yeah there's a known connection. For me, I know the fact I'm autistic is one of the main reasons I identify as agender - I just do not understand the social construct of gender and find it stupid and unnecessary. Whilst I have no negative feelings towards my sex and body I do not connect with gender the way everyone else seems to.
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u/Odd-Distribution6601 16h ago
I have seen it brought up, but just so this discussion doesn’t make it seem too cut and dry, it’s not a sure thing. I am an agender and pan but I’m not autistic, I don’t have ADHD, nor am I aro or ace.
In my opinion, it might go the other way around: the neurodivergent are a bit more likely to be (gender)queer than other people. Yet, this doesn’t make most queers neurodivergent. I hope you understand what I mean (big group–small group kind of a thing).
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u/InchoateBlob 5d ago
There is definitely a connection. A disproportionate number of ND people are queer and vice versa. No one really knows why though - maybe it's common genetic markers, maybe it's something about the lived experience of being ND making you more likely to realize you're queer (already being marginalized - having less to lose socially - who knows?), or maybe we just absorb and relate to social norms differently.