Neuroqueer: an exploratory study of lived experiences at the intersection of queer and neurodivergent identities

This exploratory qualitative study examines how queer, trans, and nonbinary (QTNB) individuals conceptualise neurodivergence, the salience it holds, and how neurodivergent and queer experiences are mutually shaped. Data were collected in Italy through an online survey with open-ended questions. Participants were 224 QTNB neurodivergent adults (aged 18–57, M = 29.8). A coding reliability thematic analysis was conducted within an interpretivist and critical framework integrating neurodiversity paradigm, social safety, and neuroconstructivist perspectives. Three interconnected themes were identified: (1) Signification captured plural meanings of neurodivergence, including neurodivergence as neurobiological difference, divergence from neurotypical expectations, embodied experience, and neurodivergence is political; (2) Subjectivation describes how neurodivergence becomes a lens for self-understanding, including neurodivergence as a tool for understanding, my neurodivergence is me, reclaiming the self, and opportunity to connect; (3) Intersectional reappropriation highlights the co-constitutive nature of neurodivergence and queerness through shared experiences of discrimination and stigma, diverging from cishetero- and neuro-normativity, neuroqueer as a co-constituted and inextricable experience, and unmasking and disclosure as parallel processes. Findings suggest that neurodivergence and queerness are dynamically and reciprocally shaped rather than additive identities. The study invites a shift beyond deficit-oriented paradigms toward research and clinical practices centred on lived experience.