This month’s online ION Chat led to a energetic and deeply personal exchange on neurodiversity, identity, and the urgent need to reframe inclusion – not just within institutions but across wider social structures. Spanning topics from under-representation in global policy to misunderstandings in the workplace, from the power of intersectionality to the tension between disclosing and staying safe, this conversation cut to the heart of what neurominority inclusion means in 2025.

Neuroqueer Visibility: From Silence to Pride

One participant opened the discussion by highlighting the lack of visibility for neuroqueer individuals – especially in public forums connected to Pride events. His initiative to organise one of the first EU panels connecting Pride with ‘neuroqueer’ness this year interested others on the call: that despite growing public interest, the overlap between queer and neurominority identities is still widely overlooked in research, policy, and practice.

The conversation reflected growing data suggesting that between 30% and 70% of autistic individuals identify as LGBTQIA+ – a striking contrast to 10-15% in the general population. The takeaway? Neuroqueer communities are not fringe. They are statistically and culturally central, and they need the visibility, support, and community design to match.

Breaking the “Us vs. Them” Binary

The chat frequently returned to the divide between “neurominority” and “neuromajority,” with many on the call challenging the use of this binary altogether. One ION member questioned the use of “neuromajority” as a catch-all for anyone not formally diagnosed, suggesting it often assumes clarity where there is none. “We all think as differently as our fingerprints,” one speaker added. “There is no norm. Everyone has a different cognitive profile.”

Another participant echoed this, recounting workplace presentations that emphasised either threat or deficit – painting neurominority employees as risky or unpredictable. “We don’t need more fear-based training,” he said. “We need messaging that celebrates the competitive advantage of difference.” One solution? A speaker directory that promotes experienced, neurominority-led storytelling that educates from lived insight, not bias.

Diagnosis, Stigma, and the HR Conundrum

Several participants shared stories of battling HR systems that pathologise difference. Several members described the challenges of being forced to categorize ADHD or autism as “mental health conditions” on job forms –despite these being developmental, not psychiatric, differences. “I had to argue I wasn’t unfit for work – just different,” she said. “Why do we have to prove deficit to gain accommodations when the same adjustments would help the whole team?”

The group agreed: HR departments, legal teams, and DEI consultancies urgently need better education on the neurodiversity paradigm. But equally, neurominority individuals need support in self-advocacy that doesn’t require trauma disclosure. As one person put it: “Why can’t I just tell you how I work best without needing to show you my diagnosis?”

Culture as Care: Towards a Neuro-Inclusive Society

Another member painted a hopeful vision of what neuro-culture could become. In his home city, “listening bars” have strung up, tailored to sensory sensitivity, where people gather not to socialise in a traditional sense, but to co-exist in a shared, calm space – with music, connection, and consent. “We don’t need more clinical language,” he said. “We need spaces and systems that reflect our natural rhythms.”

The psychedelic conversation – a new issue for many on the call – was also raised – exploring the intersection of microdosing, cognitive rewiring, and ADHD support. While the science is still emerging, there was interest in learning more about these topics in the broader neurodiversity dialogue.

What’s Next? From Awareness to Action

Key ideas that emerged as next steps:

• Creating – or at least helping to ‘vet’ – a neurominority speakers’ bureau to counter harmful narratives in corporate DEI.
• Developing HR toolkits and templates for positive disclosure language and accommodations.
• Building a global resource map of neurominoroty-led innovations in education, the arts, community space design, and tech.
• Promoting “neuroculture” experiences, such as Berlin’s listening bars, to show what inclusive design looks like beyond theory.
• Advocating for language reform that removes pathologising terms from workplace forms and policy frameworks.
• Tapping into legal, creative, and coaching networks to push forward change in laws, training, and representation.

Above all, the discussion echoed a shared belief: we must move from pathologising to empowering, from isolation to intersection. Just as LGBTQIA+ rights evolved through courageous, strategic visibility, so too must neurodiversity. And the message isn’t just for institutions. It’s for all of us.

“There is no ‘them,’” one participant said. “There’s just us.”

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Want to be part of the next ION Chat? Or do you have ideas, stories, or speaker suggestions? Email us at info@ioneurodiversity.org and let’s keep building a truly neuroinclusive world – together.