Julian of Norwich and Autistic Expressions of Christian Spirituality

As an autistic woman, I draw on Julian’s writing and the traditions of anchoritic spirituality, women’s visionary literature, and monastic discipline to identify aspects of Julian’s life that resonate with autistic spiritual experience. I provide a critique of the deficit narrative of autism pervading psychology and theology. I examine three characteristics of autism—requiring places of solace, focus on “special interests,” and heightened sensory sensitivity—as enabling Julian to contemplate her mystical experiences and create Revelations. This essay expands our understanding of the spirituality of neurodivergent persons and grounds them in long-standing spiritual practices and monastic-anchoritic disciplines.