Northumbria Student Academic Journal

A Mask Within the Closet

2026-05-27T10:55:24+00:00

Research has demonstrated overlaps in neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+ identities and communities, yet academic frameworks still pontificate over models to handle these identities. Researchers have not kept pace with the lived experiences reported by these people. This article presents Intersectionality Theory, as conceived by Crenshaw (1989), as a theoretically robust and practically necessary framework for researching the intersection of queer and neurodivergent identities as it inherently evolves and does not require us to wait for the resolution of the ongoing medical-versus-social model debate in neurodiversity research for meaningful dialogue to continue. Drawing on existing literature, the current UK policy context surrounding ND and queerness, and preliminary observations from a Northumbria University PhD study exploring the experiences of queer parents with children on the ADHD assessment pathway, this article examines parallels between neurodivergent and queer masks and closets, the crossover in histories of the pathologisation of these communities, and compounding discriminations faced therein. The article makes a case for intersectionality as a foundational approach to this under-researched area.

Potential Impact of the Government SEND Reforms for Neurodivergent Children and Young People

2026-05-27T11:09:39+00:00

This article examines the potential impact of the UK government’s proposed education reforms on neurodivergent children and young people. Recent white papers outline significant changes to the structure of SEND support in mainstream and specialist education, including a strengthened universal offer, new National Inclusion Standards, and a tiered system of Targeted, Targeted Plus, and EHCP provision. While the reforms promise increased funding and a focus on inclusive practice, concerns have emerged regarding reduced access to personalised support with the introduction of standardised specialist provision packages. There are currently few details of what support will be provided in these packages. The language used suggests a behaviourist and ableist viewpoint, raising questions about how well the reforms will meet neurodivergent pupils’ needs. Additional concerns include inconsistent implementation of inclusion standards; high student-staff ratios and the potential for continued school alienation among neurodivergent learners. Although the reforms aim to improve mainstream inclusivity, this analysis highlights that without meaningful consultation, neurodivergent-affirming evidence, and structural changes within schools, the reforms may inadvertently reduce support and statutory protections for neurodivergent children.

Neuroqueering Masculinity

2026-05-27T11:18:10+00:00

This paper adopts an analytic autoethnographic approach to explore how a neurodivergent, queer man’s shifting gender expression and experiences of sexual identity illuminate the limits of binary understandings of masculinity and femininity (Anderson, 2006; Ellis, Adams and Bochner, 2011). Drawing on queer theory, neuroqueer theory and Jungian analytical psychology, it examines how social pressure, masking, diagnosis, crisis and psychedelic experience shaped my movement between more masculine and more feminine forms of self-presentation. The paper argues that gendered expression is better understood, in Jungian terms, as a dynamic interplay of psychic energies rather than as a fixed binary, and that neurodivergent and queer lives may make this instability especially visible. In tracing my own experiences from childhood to the present, I suggest that unmasking and individuation can be read as parallel processes of becoming more integrated, less performative and more internally coherent.

Masking, Legibility and Neuronormativity

2026-05-27T11:27:07+00:00

‘Neuroqueer’ scholarship has explored how neurodivergence and queerness shape one another, as well as the practices of resisting neuronormativity and cisheteronormativity. While autistic representation has grown more visible on contemporary television, scholarship identifies similar problems with representation: stereotypes, gaps in authenticity and a lack of intersectionality. Through Heartbreak High, this article argues that Quinni’s representation matters. The show represents masking as a shared technology of normativity across disability and sexuality. Using neuroqueer theory, critical autism studies and research on camouflaging and stigma, this article develops the concept of neuroqueer legibility, covering the processes through which a character comes to be legible as both autistic and queer and the risks attendant to this legibility. Analysis of Heartbreak High shows that the series diverts responsibility for interpretation away from the individual and the individual’s deficit. Through Quinni’s disclosure and her deteriorating relationship with Sasha, the series shifts focus towards relational misattunement and institutional discipline.

‘The Vampire Is Prone to Be Fascinated with an Engrossing Vehemence, Resembling the Passion of Love’

2026-05-20T12:31:23+00:00

Carmilla, by Sheridan Le Fanu, is a classic of lesbian and queer literature, offering a surprisingly explicit (for its day) and shockingly tender (in its way) dark lesbian romance. Underexamined, however, is the way in which Le Fanu, through Carmilla’s persecution and ultimate undoing, examines the symbiotic relationship between secular and religious politics as disciplinary arms of patriarchy, who act violently against queer subjects that are made abject by both men of science and men of God. In this article I examine how Le Fanu presents the dual operating of these forces against Carmilla, and how his subtle sympathy for both the vampire and Laura probes at the limitations of these forces’ ability to discipline queerness. I do so with reference to how this same symbiotic relationship remains apparent in our own day, especially regarding the anti-transgender moral panic that regularly dominates our headlines, analysing how Carmilla relates to our current moment through policy analysis and contemporary feminist theory. With this context in mind, I trace the ancestry of our current moment to the similar patriarchal crackdowns of Le Fanu’s time and before, exploring how Carmilla herself prefigures many of the ways these forces operate against transgender people today.