Autism and intersectionality

Intersectionality considers how an individual can experience a variety of identities, be it around neurodiversity, race, gender, class, sexuality or otherwise. With regard to autism, we have moved forward in that it was previously regarded as a deficit or disorder; where only barriers and challenges were considered, and it was originally perceived through the lens of medicine – and just abnormality more generally.

We’re now at a stage where neurodiversity is viewed as a difference in neurology and seen as a unique form of human diversity. This has more recently been translated into recognising the many strengths in neurodiversity – and celebrating these.

Also, when considering autism, we are making progress in that it was initially perceived as being a male-centred difference, where only these experiences were reported, known about, or shown. Awareness has grown over the years, and we now understand gender differences in the presentation of autism, and how women are more likely to mask than men. This means camouflaging our behaviours, so learning to behave in a particular way; performing certain roles and suppressing parts of ourselves – all in order to fit in.

Though gender has been considered in the narrative around autism, other forms of intersectionality, for instance ethnicity, is not so well known or researched, and there is also little visible representation in terms of diverse role models.

I know this is definitely something I noticed since my diagnosis – the lack of role models to look upon and drawn inspiration and encouragement from. There are vast differences in the Caucasian representation of autism, and I therefore feel it’s important to have alternate examples to call upon. When it comes to diagnosis of autism in ethnic minorities, there is an underrepresentation. This is sadly sometimes due to stigmas attached with gaining a diagnosis, and how this can reflect badly upon parents or communities, or in some cases it is believed that autism can be cured with traditional remedies or that it can be grown out of. I’ve heard a myriad of reasons over the years, including how being autistic can be inherited from previous life forms or seen as lessons for growth, expansion or even punishment in our current lives. Though this isn’t my story, as an ethnic minority, I can certainly relate to these narratives, and consequently empathise.

Being autistic is a part of my identity, but so is my ethnicity, in addition to many other facets of self that I identify with.

As a brown person, with parents from different countries, born in Britain, and having lived in different countries,