Strangers and friends: navigating neurodiverse research collaboration

In this chapter we explore the challenges and possibilities of neurodiverse research collaboration, i.e., including researchers of different neurotypes. We come from different disciplines, from the UK and Sweden. Drawing on a collaborative autoethnographic methodology, we share our reflections about working together on a wider project exploring the meanings of neurodiversity. The process of writing this chapter broadly followed that outlined in (Jackson-Perry, D., Hanna Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, H., Kourti, M. & Annable, J.L. 2020. Sensory strangers: travels in normate sensory worlds. In Neurodiversity Studies. A New Critical Paradigm, Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, H., Chown, N., Stenning, A. (eds.). London: Routledge.): an ‘iterative process’ whereby data collection and analyses are intertwined. We discuss academic interpretations of “expertise” and different roles in neurodiverse research groups and relate our experiences through four different themes: Creating (an)other space: trying to do research in other ways; Nurturing interest-based research; Being in a game with no rules, being ‘free in chaos’ and Limits of collectivity: the matter of ‘One of us’.