Neurodiversity and Queerness: Is there a connection?

Mental health clinicians are trained to thoroughly assess clients using a biopsychosocial perspective. Doing so helps us to recognize patterns, in terms of both diagnosing and treating different conditions as well as overall trends in our client population.



Since 2020, one shift I have noticed as a clinician is an increase in identity exploration outside the therapy room. While it certainly happened before the pandemic, in the past five-odd years, I have had a record number of clients present with a hunch that they might be queer, trans, neurodivergent, or some combination of the three. Many of these folks have strong self-awareness and knowledge coming into therapy, and our work together is simply putting the pieces together with clinical backing.



More and more therapists are noticing an overlap between clients who identify as LGBT and those within the neurodivergent community. Enough so that the term “neuroqueer” has been used colloquially to describe this group of clients (O’Reilly, 2025). But what causes these two traits to intersect – nature or nurture? In this blog, we’ll break down the inquiries into this question so far, as well as a few proposed explanations.



Prevalence



Existing research supports that there is a higher prevalence of neurodivergence among LGBT people of all ages. A 2024 meta-analysis of all research in the past 10 years supported this statement, with higher rates of ADHD diagnosis among both adolescents and adults (Goetz & Adams). A self-report study focusing on college-age young adults specifically found twice the prevalence of ADHD between sexual minority respondents and their heterosexual peers, and nearly three times more among gender minority respondents (14.5%, 7.5%, and 23%, respectively) (Orantes et al.). So far, inquiries into why this phenomenon occurs have not been conclusive. Let’s look at a few hypotheses.



Role of Internet/TikTok in Community Building and Self-Identification



Many Americans first became acquainted with TikTok during the COVID-19 pandemic. The platform gained popularity as people were confined to their homes with little else to occupy their time, starving for community and social connection. TikTok is known for its canny algorithm, which generates a feed of video content based on what users interact with, and how they do so (McMillan, 2025). For someone who is isolated, in need of a distraction, and who is deriving most of their entertainment from their phone, the algorithm quickly picks up on personal attributes.



While the concept of neurodiversity has been used in online communities since the 1990s, it rapidly gained traction among TikTokers sharing lived experience content in the 2020s (McMillan, 2025). The app functions by showing users more of what they interact with, giving the sense that the algorithm can intuit certain traits or aspects of their identity. After consuming and enjoying content about neurodivergent lived experience, some viewers recognize shared traits with the video creators, and in turn, resonate with their community. Researchers argue that through mimicry and repetition, TikTok feeds create space to think more expansively about identity formation and community-building (McMillan, 2025).



A similar argument can be made about the role of TikTok in queer identity formation. TikTok holds “the queer potential to realize utopic futures, ones unconstrained by heteronormativity and cisnormativity” through the use of niche hashtags and targeted content, using the algorithm to hone in on specific subgroups (DuGuay, 2023, p. 3). The more you interact with content on QueerTok, the more you will feel at home, receiving “a knowing nod to like-minded audiences who will get [the creator’s] POV” (p. 2). This sense of community that TikTok is known for fostering can lead to self-identification, the other community members serving as a mirror for oneself.



Many dismiss the importance of online spaces in identity formation, dismissing them as adolescent or not “real life.” But in doing so, we dismiss the validity of connections made in the online realm. A.E. Osworth wrote nearly a decade ago that “things we do online already matter as much as the things we do in meatspace,” cleverly referring to the distinction between online and “IRL” community (2016). In queer history, online spaces have always mattered, and have always been a part of our shared reality.



Which Came First, Neurodivergence or Queerness?



The term “neurodivergence” refers to a brain that functions differently than proscribed societal norms, and can be an umbrella term including multiple neurodevelopmental conditions, or states of being (McMillan, 2025). In an effort to destigmatize these neurodevelopmental differences, clinicians often name the challenges faced by a neurodivergent brain in a world built on norms. In turn, it can also be said that one of the strengths many neurodiverse people hold is the ability to think creatively, expansively, and offer new perspectives.



In breaking with societal norms, neurodivergent people often have the experience of questioning cultural conditioning (O’Reilly, 2025). When confronting the power structures that enforce standards of behavior, we quickly recognize how much of our social expectations are gendered. A commonly-discussed trait among neurodivergent people is pattern recognition, and in turn, the rejection of binary systems (O’Reilly, 2025). Neurodivergent people may be primed to divest from these standards and expectations as a result.



While it is unclear which came first for many people, self-acceptance of neurodivergence or queerness, examining social norms plays a big role in identity formation in both categories.



Why does this matter for clinicians?



Clients face substantial stigma, prejudice, and discrimination due to their marginalized identity. Researchers argue that navigating access to gender-affirming care and the nebulous processes of legal, medical, and social transition necessitate executive function skills – which may be specifically impaired by untreated ADHD symptoms (Goetz & Adams). Furthermore, one third of respondents in a 2018 study said that their gender identity had been repeatedly questioned due to their autism (Dattaro, 2024). Both scenarios hold the potential to negatively impact mental health outcomes, including avoidance of needed healthcare and mental healthcare.



For clients who are both neurodivergent and identify within the LGBTQ+ community, a phenomenon known as the “double minority effect” can occur (Tandem Psychology, 2024). This term refers to how the challenges of marginalized identities can compound each other, and for clients at this intersection, may result in masking one’s natural behavior to conform to social expectations (Tandem Psychology, 2024). Clients may come to therapy with a desire to “unmask,” to reconnect with their true nature and feel more at home in their brains, bodies, and environments. We must understand what that means to be able to help them do so.



Our world is rapidly changing, online and “IRL,” and as therapists, we see this reflected in our caseloads in real time. We need to stay flexible, open-minded, and curious about how and why these changes take place. In this case, a richer understanding of neurodiversity and queerness can aid both therapists and clients in identity exploration as a therapeutic objective. As Osworth shrewdly observed back in 2016, “never call cyberspace fake again.”