Osipova, E. (2026, February 13). Neuroqueering Technosexual Scripts [Conference Presentation]. Sexuality, Disability, and the Power to Disrupt, Calgary, Canada. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12708/226735
Throughout mainstream research and public discourse, neurodivergent embodiment, social interaction, as well as sexualities have persistently been portrayed as pathological, deficient and in need of “correction.” Subsequently, such framings of neurodivergent sexualities dominate technology research and design, while neurodivergent people themselves are commonly excluded from producing knowledge about their own lives (e.g., Patel & Osipova et al., 2024).
This talk is based on our analysis of qualitative in-depth interviews with neurodivergent experts on their experiences of intimacy and the role of technologies in their intimate practices. Applying the theoretical lens of “technosexual scripts” (Waidzunas & Epstein, 2015), we explore how neurodivergent experts use and navigate technologies (ranging from social media platforms to dating apps to sex toys) for their diverse intimate purposes. Our findings exemplify how (1) dominant technosexual scripts mesh with neuronormativity in unique ways, and how (2) neurodivergent technology users employ a range of situated, subversive practices to actively assemble an intimate framework that is adjusted to their individual needs, pleasures and desires. They, thus, engage in forms of neuroqueering (Walker, 2021; Yergeau, 2017) dominant technosexual scripts.
We present a range of neuroqueer intimate practices that challenge existing notions of intimacy around neurodivergence and show how these can inform technological design rooted in a neurodivergent standpoint – away from technosolutionism towards self-determined exploration and neuroqueer joy.
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Project title:
Zugang mit Interaktiven Technologien Erfahren: 101117519 (European Commission)