Working as ‘Rebellious Disruptors’: Neuroqueering and Cripping Academic Spaces Within the Sociology of Religion

This paper critically explores the intersection of neurodivergence, disability, decoloniality, and lived religion through the praxis of organizing a day conference: BSA SocRel Chair’s Response Day on Religion, Neurodiversity, and Disability. It argues that neuroqueering and radical inclusivity offer transformative possibilities beyond tokenistic EDI frameworks, especially when grounded in collaborative, community-led organizing. Drawing on ethnographic reflection and activist theology, the paper highlights how structural ableism persists within academic and religious institutions, while also revealing spaces of resistance, care, and political imagination. It calls for abolitionist approaches that center neurodivergent experience, not as a deficit but as a generative force, for reshaping both scholarly and spiritual life.