17 Neuroqueerness and Management Research

We explore how management researchers interested in disability and neurodiversity at work can benefit from taking a neuroqueerness perspective. A neuroqueerness perspective highlights the ways in which neurodivergent people can subvert and disrupt culturally dominant notions of neurotypicality and neurodivergence, that are largely informed by neurotypical perspectives, to reveal able-bodied assumptions and the exclusionary effects of neurotypical perspectives (Walker, 2015; Yergeau, 2018). We suggest that introducing the perspective of neuroqueerness into management research can further help organizations formulate alternative perspectives in their quest to de-pathologize neurodivergence and the identities of neurodivergent people within their work environments. In this chapter, we define neuroqueerness, and we describe how autistic employees can neuroqueer organizational life. With the aim of spurring further research on the topic of neuroqueerness, we also describe how management researchers can aim to better understand neuroqueerness through researching the topics of organizational support, disclosure and identity management, and leadership.