Trans and Neurodivergent - A huge crossover of our communities & our experiences

This speech was given at the launch event for Dublin Trans and Intersex Pride 2024. It was written and delivered by Aoife Sheridan. Trans and Intersex Pride will take place on the 13th July at 2pm starting at the Garden of Remembrance.

Article image reads Trans and Neurodivergent - A huge crossover of our communities & our experiences

Healthcare providers and governing bodies believe that neurodivergent people are incompetent - which we are not. This includes our non-speaking siblings and our siblings with higher support needs - just because someone needs support, should not negate their autonomy as a person.

Hello Everyone. My name is Aoife, my pronouns are he and they and I am a trans nonbinary autistic person. I am also a co-organiser with Neuro Pride Ireland - Ireland’s only cross-neurodivergent disabled persons organization.

For people that don’t know, Neuro Pride Ireland is an organisation that focuses on creating online community spaces for neurodivergent people, as well as lobbying the government on matters of disability justice and attending conferences etc.?

3 quarters of the founding members of Neuro Pride Ireland are trans nonbinary and many of the contributors are also trans, such as myself.

I just want to mention a care warning, as I will be mentioning the words suicide and medical trauma in this speech, but I will not be going into any specifics.?

I want to thank Trans and Intersex pride for asking me to be here today. The rights of trans, nonbinary and intersex people has always been an important topic for myself and Neuro Pride. I think many of us here will be familiar with the statistic that trans and nonbinary people are disproportionately likely to also be neurodivergent in comparison to our cisgender counterparts. Naturally, this means that there is a huge crossover of our communities and our experiences.

From my personal experience, I find that there are similarities to how society treats trans people and neurodivergent people.

We have the case of simply not fitting into our prescribed boxes, and how just by being ourselves, we disrupt the status quo, and unfortunately this can make people uncomfortable - particularly in the capitalist society that we are in.

To quote myself from the Bread and Roses Festival; “Being disabled under capitalism means that our bodies are not valued by the system. Because many of us cannot sell our labour for the production of capital, the ruling class cannot profit off our bodies, so they disregard us, and they try to limit our access to financial and other forms of support.” And being a trans, nonbinary and intersex person under capitalism, means that our bodies are also not valued. Because our existence directly contradicts the cishetero patriarchy, and the oppressive power structures that benefit from it. This is likely why we are seeing such a wave of transphobia, and the removal of access to whatever semblance of support and of gender affirming healthcare that has existed.?

Trans people and neurodivergent people also experience medical trauma and gaslighting - we have people who society considers “experts” making decisions for us, without us - when realistically we are the people who know ourselves the best.

And I think everyone of us in the room can talk about the inaccessibility and cost of actual healthcare, whether it be gender affirming or disability healthcare.

We unfortunately also experience higher rates of anxiety, depression, trauma and suicide - all of which are considered other forms of neurodivergence.

A very important thing I want to highlight, is that as we are experiencing this horrific wave of transphobia, neurodivergence - specifically autism and other more stigmatized conditions under the mad umbrella - are being weaponised against neurodivergent trans people, in order to deny us gender affirming care.?

Experiencing a form of neurodivergence, whether that be autism, ADHD, BPD, DID etc. does not negate or invalidate a trans persons assertions of their gender. This is ableist, and it sends the message that healthcare providers and governing bodies believe that neurodivergent people are incompetent - which we are not. This includes our non-speaking siblings and our siblings with higher support needs - just because someone needs support, should not negate their autonomy as a person.

This makes me think of some of my fellow neurodivergent and disabled siblings, who due to lack of access for disabled people to live independently, are facing into an indefinite future where they have to live with family who may not support them, and whom it may not even be safe for them to come out to.

My heart aches for them, and it’s an important moment to acknowledge that our struggles are connected. That lobbying the government for liveable disability payments, non means-tested payments and access to Personal Assistants - just to name a few things - will make life easier not just for cisgender disabled people, but also for trans, nonbinary and intersex disabled people.

It is also the same reason that addressing the housing crisis and the cost of living crisis in this country is paramount for the safety and welfare of our community.

I do also want to highlight some of the incredible joys of being both trans and neurodivergent, and I hope this resonates with you. One of the best things about discovering that I am both neurodivergent and trans, is the access to a community that I never thought that I would have. I have made my best friends, through meeting them at trans and neurodivergent events and spaces, who understand me and accept me in a way that my family and other people don’t.

To top this off, these communities are very passionate about continuing to advocate for a better and more inclusive world for us all. I think when we are facing adversity, whether it be ableism, transphobia, racism, sexism - and the intersection of these issues - it is incredibly important to know that we are not alone.

As I have just highlighted, trans, non-binary and intersex people who are also disabled, experience multiple forms of marginalisation due to their overlapping identities. But I would be remissed not to recognise the further marginalisation of the black, POC, refugee and religious minority members of both of our communities. Systemic racism in Ireland and the rise of the far right means that some of our siblings are facing additional violence to the ones we all experience, and in our activism we must ensure that we take into account their experiences and needs.

I am going to end this speech today, in a similar way that I ended my speech at the Bread and Roses Festival, and that is to acknowledge our trans, nonbinary, intersex, neurodivergent and disabled siblings in Palestine, and across the world who are experiencing genocide. Trans people, neurodivergent people and disabled people, exist all across the world, whether they are societally accepted there or not. They deserve to be free just as we do, and I am grateful to know there is solidarity in this room, with them.?