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.
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).