Somewhere Deconstructing The Double Rainbow

Yesterday I took part in a panel discussion as part of Neurodiversity Celebration Week. Those who have followed my work for a while will know I don't love the concept of 'days', 'weeks' or 'months' dedicated to celebrating aspects of deliberate disadvantage because I believe it upholds harmful systems by limiting our time and space to diverge from the construct of normal while maintaining the status quo the rest of the time. I'm much more of a 'burn it all down and reimagine reality' kind of guy. I've also often observed these kinds of events to be majority white, cis and straight, something I have commented on publicly as well as discussed privately with those taking part.

The panel was on the intersection of neurodivergence and LGBTQIA+, sometimes referred to as the ‘Double Rainbow’ because a high percentage of neurodivergents also identify as LGBTQIA+. This naming is incongruent with the way I approach social justice for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the data at the root of this correlation gets misinterpreted, misused and abused to the detriment of those existing at this intersection. Secondly, it reinforces the construct of ‘white as the default’, by framing neurodivergence and queerness as ‘doubly different’, and yet problematically doesn’t speak to the enormous differences in the experiences that Black and Global Majority people at this intersection will have compared to those racialised as white. It feels like it comes from the same line of thinking as ‘I don’t see colour’. All that said, I think there is room to have radical progressives present in these events because it might help some people to shift their perspectives. The discussion ended up being highly enjoyable, the contributions from my co-panellists were vulnerable and insightful and the feedback from the attendees indicated that we moved some people’s thinking away from oppression-friendly advocacy and towards decolonisation and liberation.

Below, I’ve shared my answers to the main questions I addressed as part of the panel.