Neurodiversity and Pride Spotlight

 

Happy Pride Everyone!!!

Each Friday this month I have highlight a different group within the wider LGBTQA+ family.

Our last Pride Spotlight is highlighting individuals* who are neurodivergent** and LGBTQA+*** 

Neurodiversity needs to be highlighted more often 

*Once again I am also including fictional characters.

** Neurodiversity includes Dyslexia, Autism, ADHD etc. 

***Gender and sexuality can be fluid and labels can be too

Anderson Cooper (Dyslexia/Gay)

Anderson Cooper is an American broadcast journalist and political commentator. He is the primary anchor of the CNN news broadcast show Anderson Cooper 360°.

Ann Bancroft (Dyslexia/Bi)

Ann Bancroft is an American author, teacher, adventurer, and public speaker. She was the first woman to finish a number of expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1995

Erin Ekins (Autistic/Bi)

Erin Ekins is a queer autistic woman who runs the popular blog Queerly Autistic.

Hannah Gadsby (Autistic/Lesbian)

Hannah Gadsby is an Australian comedian, writer, and actress.

Jessica Benham (Autistic/Bi)

Jessica Benham became the first openly bisexual autistic woman to win a seat in an US election

Maya MacGregor (Autistic/Nonbinary)

Maya MacGregor is a writer, singer, and artist. They sing and write in Gàidhlig and in English. The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester is their first young adult novel.

Robert Rauschenberg (Dyslexia/Bi)

Robert Rauschenberg was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combines (1954–1964), artworks which incorporated everyday objects as art materials and blurred the lines between painting and sculpture. 

Sam Sylvester (Autistic/Nonbinary/Ace)

Sam is a nonbinary autistic teen character from the book The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester by Maya MacGregor.

Sheldon Riley (Autistic/Gay)

Sheldon Riley, is an Australian singer. He represented Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with his song "Not the Same"

Wentworth Miller (Autistic/Gay)

Wentworth Miller is an American-British actor, screenwriter and producer known by some for his role as Michael Scofield in the Fox series Prison Break, One the other hand he is known to me and more or less has become my squish*, for playing Leonard Snart / Leo Snart/ Captain Cold in Legends of Tomorrow and for his HRC Speech, his oxford speech, and his Active Minds speech. 

*Note: A squish is an aromantic crush, a desire for a platonic relationship with someone. As opposed to a crush, which is the desire for a romantic relationship. Usually when a person has a squish on someone, they want to get to know them better and form a close friendship with them. 

(And yes I know I'm never likely to meet Wentworth  let alone develop a close friendship with him LOL but I still have a squish on him in part because we share multiple identities in common: LGBTQ+, Mental Health Struggles, and being neurodivergent so listening to his various talks/interviews makes me feel seen)