The first workshop on using intersectionality (Crenshaw, 2013) to examine how disability intersects with identity factors like race and gender left me unsettled. While I deeply value these discussions, the workshop only skimmed the surface and failed to offer actionable strategies for resisting systemic oppression.
I just returned from a conference in Japan, presenting my TOCHI journal article based on insights from my PhD research focused on the intersection of play, ableism, technology, and non-conventionally verbal autistic children (Nonnis & Bryan-Kinns, 2024). My work sought to challenge HCI’s and academia’s implicit normalisation agenda (Milton, 2012) and instead highlight and support autistic ways of being (Rosqvist, Milton & O’Dell, 2022). As I described in case study 1, unit 1, I try to encourage a rebellious and critical spirit in my students too, adapting a neuroqueer approach to joyful teaching and learning (Rauchberg, 2022).
I also co-authored a Special Interest Group (SIG) on Designing for Neurodiversity in Academia (Tcherdakoff et al., 2025). The SIG brought together HCI researchers, neurodiverse academics, and allies to explore inclusive strategies across career stages (from students to senior scholars). We examined how academic technologies can both help and harm, and how policy and governance impact neurodivergent inclusion and intersectionality, which came up regarding race, class, disability and language barriers. I found this work meaningful and feeding well into my teaching.
Kim’s video on sign language resonated with my 15+ years work with “nonverbal” and disabled children. I was reminded of my experience learning Makaton, a simplified form of British Sign Language (BSL), used by some autistic children, and how verbal language hold social currency value. Still, I would currently be unable to teach a deaf student effectively: though I enable students to use communication access real-time transcription apps (CART), no staff are BSL-trained, interpreters aren’t available, classes aren’t recorded or transcribed, slides are most of the time not accessible to screen readers, Augmented and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems do not exist, and verbal/written communication dominates. Worse, no one is accountable when needs are unmet.
In research and practice, I meet individuals whose identities intersect in complex ways. I fought with a CL to pass a student who is black, trans, AuADHD, working-class, and from a deeply religious background. Despite their challenges, I felt powerless as I tried to justify even a C grade, which was worth, from a failing mark, and had to compromise on a D.
At the Conference, Crawford and Hamidi (2025) discussed challenges and opportunities brought about by using technology in romantic relationships of disabled LGBTQAI+ people. Tsaknaky et al. (2025) argued, “Human bodies are deeply political as they carry historical and social meanings, including race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, class, and abilities”. Lindy Le’s critical autoethnography (2024) echoes these complexities, showing how intersectional neurodivergent experiences can reshape accessibility research. Le notes the privilege in being able to “mask” and “unmask” neurodivergence. She discusses systemic violence through examples like Stephon (Hurst, 2015) and Ryan (Levin, 2024), black autistic youths killed due to the criminalisation of their neurodivergent behaviours – highlighting how diagnostic referrals often stem from schools, where white children’s behaviours are medicalised, but black children are punished.
Masking, however, harms mental health and fosters disconnection (Miller, Rees & Pearson, 2021). It leads to burnout and, at worst, suicide (Pearson & Rose, 2020; Miller et al., 2021). These insights demand that we centre lived, intersectional experiences and take concrete action, not just talk, toward justice and inclusion.
Note: I used the term minimally verbal to nonverbal to identify those children who do not use spoken language as conventionally understood but might nonetheless express themselves by using their voices (i.e., through echolalia and/or other sounds).
References:
Crawford, K.A. and Hamidi, F., 2025, April. ” Like a Love Language”: Understanding Communication in Disabled LGBTQIA+ Romantic Relationships. In Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-17).
Crenshaw, K.W., 2013. Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. In The public nature of private violence (pp. 93-118). Routledge.
Hurst, A., 2015. Black, autistic, and killed by police. Chicago Reader, 17, pp.12-18.
Le, L., 2024, October. “I Am Human, Just Like You”: What Intersectional, Neurodivergent Lived Experiences Bring to Accessibility Research. In Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (pp. 1-20).
Levin, S., 2024. California officer shoots and kills boy, 15, holding gardening tool. The Guardian (March 2024). Accessed on 12 May 2025 from: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/ mar/11/california-san-bernandino-sheriffs-deputy-kills-teenager
Miller, D., Rees, J. and Pearson, A., 2021. “Masking is life”: Experiences of masking in autistic and nonautistic adults. Autism in Adulthood, 3(4), pp.330-338.
Milton, D.E., 2012. On the ontological status of autism: The ‘double empathy problem’. Disability & society, 27(6), pp.883-887.
Nonnis, A. and Bryan-Kinns, N., 2024. Unmasking the Power of Play Through TUI Designs. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 31(4), pp.1-43.
Pearson, A. and Rose, K., 2020. A conceptual analysis of autistic masking: Understanding the narrative of stigma and the illusion of choice. Autism in Adulthood, 3 (1), 52–60.
Rauchberg, J.S., 2022. Imagining a neuroqueer technoscience. Studies in Social Justice, 16(2), pp.370-388.
Rosqvist, H.B., Milton, D. and O’Dell, L., 2022. Support on whose terms?: Competing meanings of support aimed at autistic people. In The Routledge international handbook of critical autism studies (pp. 182-193). Routledge.
Tcherdakoff, N.A.P., Stangroome, G.J., Milton, A., Holloway, C., Cecchinato, M.E., Nonnis, A., Eagle, T., Al Thani, D., Hong, H. and Williams, R.M., 2025, April. Designing for Neurodiversity in Academia: Addressing Challenges and Opportunities in Human-Computer Interaction. In Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-5).
Tsaknaki, V., Fdili Alaoui, S., Homewood, S., Fritsch, J., Brynskov, A., Núñez-Pacheco, C., Carlson, K., Spiel, K., Gillies, M.F.P. and Harrington, C., 2025, April. Body Politics: Unpacking Tensions and Future Perspectives for Body-Centric Design Research in HCI. In Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-7).
Hi Antonella,
Thank you for this rich blog post. You touch on so many fascinating topics, and I would love to discuss your research and practice further with you, beyond this blog post comment, as there is so much to unpack!
For the purposes of this exercise and the limitation of word count, I want to focus in on your nueroqueer approach to ‘joyful’ teaching and learning.
Thank you for sharing your insights into this, I am deeply inspired by your PHD research and your expertise in considering “play, ableism, technology, and non-conventionally verbal autistic children (Nonnis & Bryan-Kinns, 2024).” I love that the application of this research can foster learning environments that are not just inclusive, but also ‘joyful’.
I think that, understandably, a lot of conversations around inclusive practice are often framed around the damage that can be done when people are further marginalised and excluded, and it’s really important to articulate this, however I think it is equally important to also hold onto the joy that can occur when inclusivity is in action, as this gives the inspiration and energy to make meaningful change.
As practitioners we should be aiming not just to mitigate damage, but to invite hope, repair, possibility and joy into our inclusive spaces. It makes me think of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s notion that ‘all flourishing is mutual’. By supporting the inclusion of everyone in our communities, in a truly intersectional way, we all feel the benefits and can flourish.
I think your comments around accountability are also very important, as it is such a huge barrier to meaningful change. I wonder – if we cannot rely on the system to be accountable, then perhaps a reframing is needed? How can we foster communities of care and joy, amongst staff and students? I am reminded the poetry of June Jordan and the poem ‘We are the one’s we have been waiting for’ (1980). It is up to us to push for and create the changes we want to see. As a community of staff and students, we have so much insight and experience to start to build a picture of what meaningful accountability could and should look like and it’s application in the reality of day to day teaching. Perhaps if we can be accountable to one another, we can then find ways to inspire, articulate and advocate for change in the systems and structures that we operate within. I think this starts with exchange of knowledge and experience, and your blog post has already given me so much confidence and resolve to advocate and push for much needed changes within the institution.
References
Jordan, J. ‘We are the ones we have been waiting for’. (1980)
Kimmerer, R W. Robin Wall Kimmerer (2016). Braiding Sweetgrass. Tantor Media, Inc.
Nonnis, A. and Bryan-Kinns, N., 2024. Unmasking the Power of Play Through TUI Designs. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 31(4), pp.1-43.
Dear Chuck,
Thank you for your generous and thoughtful comment. I’m really glad the post resonated with you, and I deeply appreciate the hopeful framing you bring, especially around joy, community, and accountability.
You’re right: discussions about inclusion often focus on harm, and while that’s essential, we must also make space for joy, creativity, and mutual transformation. That’s where I see neuroqueer approaches becoming powerful. Drawing from Walker (2021) and Rauchberg (2022), I understand neuroqueer not just as a concept but also as a practice that intentionally disrupts normative expectations around communication, behaviour, and ways of knowing. I combine this with crip technoscience (Hamraie & Fritsch, 2019) to approach HCI teaching and research through an intersectional, political, and embodied lens.
In my classroom, this translates into validating a range of emotional and cognitive responses—joy, boredom, frustration—while embracing nonlinear and non-normative ways of thinking. I aim to celebrate stimming, encourage critical questioning (including of myself), and destigmatise tangents, which often reflect deep, divergent insights.
Your mention of Kimmerer’s “all flourishing is mutual” really struck a chord. It reminds me of Gernsbacher’s (2006) call for reciprocity, which I drew on in my research (Nonnis & Bryan-Kinns, 2024) when working with non-conventionally verbal autistic children, and which absolutely applies to classroom and institutional life more broadly.
As for accountability, it is, as you say, a persistent gap. But your reflection, drawing on June Jordan’s line “We are the ones we have been waiting for”, beautifully reframes this: perhaps we start by being accountable to one another, and through that, build pressure and momentum for systemic change.
Looking forward to continuing this conversation with you, both in and beyond the classroom.
Warmly,
Antonella
References:
Hamraie, A. and Fritsch, K., 2019. Crip technoscience manifesto. Catalyst: Feminism, theory, technoscience, 5(1), pp.1-33.
Gernsbacher, M.A., 2006. Toward a behavior of reciprocity. The journal of developmental processes, 1(1), p.139.
Nonnis, A. and Bryan-Kinns, N., 2024. Unmasking the Power of Play Through TUI Designs. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 31(4), pp.1-43.
Rauchberg, J.S., 2022. Imagining a neuroqueer technoscience. Studies in Social Justice, 16(2), pp.370-388.
Walker, N. (2021). Neuroqueer Heresies: Notes on the Neurodiversity Paradigm, Autistic Empowerment, and Postnormal Possibilities.