This blog provides a summary and a plain-language summary of a recent paper by Steven Kapp, Charlotte Morris and me. The paper was entitled: Transgender and gender diverse autistic adults’ experiences of (un)belonging. The full version can be accessed for free here.

Plainer language summary

Research shows that autistic people are more likely than non-autistic people to be trans or gender diverse. However, most research focuses on diagnosis or statistics rather than everyday experiences. This study explored how trans and gender diverse autistic adults experience belonging and not belonging in daily life.

Belonging means feeling accepted, safe, and understood. Not belonging happens when people feel excluded, misunderstood, or mistreated. Because trans and gender diverse autistic people often face both transphobia and ableism, their experiences of belonging can be complex.

We spoke with 13 (thirteen) trans and gender diverse autistic adults aged 20–50 (twenty – fifty) from different countries. Some took part in online interviews, while others responded by email to suit their access needs. Participants were either formally diagnosed or self-identified as autistic. We look at their stories to understand belonging and not belonging across three levels:

• macro – including workplaces
• meso – including like healthcare, education, and community groups
• micro – including relationships and family

At the macro level, many participants described work as exhausting or unsafe. Sensory overload, unclear expectations, and ableism made it hard to stay in jobs. Some felt unable to disclose their autism at work. Several chose self-employment to create environments that better suited their needs.

At the meso level, healthcare was a major source of not belonging. Participants described gatekeeping (where people stop you getting care or slow down access to care), long delays, and being treated as incapable because they were autistic. Hospitals were often overwhelming due to noise, crowds, and complex systems. Some participants found belonging in autistic or LGBTQIA+ spaces, particularly online, though not all spaces felt accessible.

At the micro level, many participants found a sense of belonging through close relationships, shared interests, and chosen families rather than traditional family structures. Creating supportive communities helped them feel valued and understood.

Overall, the study shows that belonging for trans and gender diverse autistic adults is affected by workplaces, healthcare, community spaces, and relationships. More inclusive structures and accessible spaces are needed to support meaningful belonging.

General summary

This paper explores the lived experiences of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) autistic adults through the lens of belonging and unbelonging. While previous research has established a significant overlap between autistic and transgender identities, much of this work has focused on ‘prevalence rates’ rather than everyday lived experience. This study addresses that gap by centring the voices and narratives of TGD autistic adults and examining how their experiences of belonging and exclusion are shaped across multiple social levels.

Belonging is a subjective and relational experience, encompassing feelings of inclusion, recognition, safety, and being understood. In contrast, unbelonging arises from exclusion and invalidation. The study examines belonging across three interconnected levels:

• macro – structural and institutional contexts,
• meso – organisations and collective spaces,
• micro – interpersonal relationships and everyday life.

This framework enables an examination of how social structures, community spaces, and intimate relationships intersect to shape the experiences of belonging for TGD autistic adults.

The study employs a qualitative, narrative methodology, using biographical narrative interpretive interviews alongside written email interviews to accommodate participants’ access needs. Thirteen TGD autistic adults aged 20 to 50 participated, representing a range of gender identities, national contexts, and life circumstances. Participants were either formally or self-diagnosed as autistic, acknowledging the barriers many people experience in accessing diagnosis. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data, with attention paid to the researchers’ positionality and the political significance of storytelling as a method of knowledge production.

Findings reveal that participants experience belonging and unbelonging across all three levels, often simultaneously. At the macro level, work and employment emerged as a significant site of exclusion. Participants described workplaces as frequently unaccommodating to autistic sensory, social, and communication needs, alongside persistent ableism. Many felt unsafe disclosing their autism at work due to stigma, even when they were out as transgender. Sensory challenges, including lighting, noise, and odours, combined with rigid work cultures and unclear expectations, contributed to burnout and job instability. Several participants reported cycling through jobs or leaving traditional employment altogether. For many, self-employment became a strategy for survival and a means of belonging, enabling them to create environments that better met their needs. These experiences reflect broader structural inequalities, as autistic people and TGD people (and those of us who are both) face disproportionately high unemployment rates.

At the meso level, participants’ experiences within education, healthcare, and community spaces further illustrated the complexities of belonging. Education was often framed as both a refuge and a resource: several participants pursued further or higher education to retrain, access more suitable careers, or find a sense of purpose and connection. However, access to education was also shaped by concerns around disability benefits, healthcare continuity, and institutional support.

Gender identity healthcare was a particularly prominent site of unbelonging (as Steven Kapp, Harley Bruce and I reflected on previously). Participants described extensive gatekeeping, especially where autism diagnoses were used to question their capacity to understand or consent to gender-affirming care. Healthcare providers often lacked understanding of how autism and gender diversity intersect, leading to infantilisation, delays, additional costs, and emotional distress. Sensory overwhelm within medical environments—such as busy hospitals and bureaucratic processes—created further barriers, with some participants delaying or avoiding care altogether. These experiences highlight how systemic ableism and transphobia intersect to produce compounded healthcare inequities.

Participants also discussed their experiences in neurodivergent and queer spaces. Many experienced strong feelings of belonging in autistic communities, both online and in person, often describing an intuitive sense of recognition and ease when interacting with other neurodivergent people. Autistic-only spaces, conferences, and online groups provided validation, friendship, and a sense of shared culture. However, these spaces were not universally accessible or comfortable. Some participants experienced anxiety, trauma-related difficulties, or situational mutism that made group settings challenging, even within autistic communities.

Similarly, queer spaces were often ambivalent sites of belonging. While LGBTQIA+ autistic spaces were described as affirming and supportive, mainstream queer nightlife environments frequently caused sensory overload, leading participants to rely on “socially acceptable” coping strategies such as intoxication rather than requesting sensory accommodations. This highlights how inclusion within queer communities often assumes neurotypical bodies and sensory tolerance, reproducing exclusion even within marginalised spaces.

At the micro level, participants reflected on relationships, intimacy, and family. Many described longstanding difficulties with social anxiety, group interactions, and maintaining friendships, often preferring one-to-one relationships, online communication, or solitary activities centred around special interests. Rather than framing these preferences as deficits, participants described meaningful belonging through hobbies, interests, and environments that allowed them to engage on their own terms.

Chosen family emerged as a central source of belonging for many participants. Non-traditional kinship structures—including queer-platonic partnerships, polycules, communal living aspirations, and close friendship networks—provided care, affirmation, and stability, particularly where biological families were rejecting or unsafe. Several participants described aspirations for communal living, fostering or adopting children, and mutual aid networks as ways of creating sustainable, supportive futures. These narratives highlight how some TGD autistic adults actively reimagine belonging outside of cis-, hetero- and neuro-normative family models.

The study also acknowledges significant structural harms, including family estrangement, religious rejection, abuse, and neglect, which disproportionately affect both autistic and TGD populations. These experiences further underscore the importance of chosen families and community-based forms of belonging as protective and restorative practices.

Overall, the study demonstrates that belonging for TGD autistic adults is not necessarily a singular or static experience, but rather one that can be produced through dynamic interactions between structural conditions, community spaces, and interpersonal relationships. While participants frequently encountered exclusion in workplaces, healthcare systems, and mainstream social spaces, they also exercised agency by creating alternative forms of belonging through self-employment, community participation, online spaces, and chosen families.

This paper contributes to existing literature by moving beyond prevalence and clinical frameworks to foreground lived experience, narrative agency, and intersectionality. By applying a macro–meso–micro framework, it offers a nuanced understanding of how power, identity, and access shape belonging in everyday life. The findings emphasise the need for structural change in employment practices, healthcare provision, and community design, alongside greater recognition of alternative kinship structures and modes of belonging. Ultimately, the study argues that meaningful inclusion of TGD autistic people requires attending not only to individual needs but also to the broader social and institutional contexts that enable—or deny—belonging.