ABSTRACT
A citizenship perspective for dementia is increasingly gaining ground, recognising people with dementia as active agents within the boundaries of their condition and with a vulnerability to marginalisation. The time has come for dementia research to learn from critical perspectives and analytical tools within the disability movement(s) to investigate the relationship between the boundaries of the condition and the process of marginalisation. This chapter tentatively outlines how the concept of neurodiversity and (selectively) the neurodiversity paradigm can contribute to critical dementia studies, discussing both possibilities and pitfalls. Neurodiversity refers to perceived variations in cognitive, affectual and sensory functioning differing from the majority. A neurodiversity paradigm challenges norms around such functioning and points to how they alienate and marginalise minorities that diverge from them, subjecting them to so-called cognitive othering. Pitfalls discussed include relativising increasingly disruptive difficulties among people with dementia and undermining the struggle in some groups for acceptance of neurodiversity as a natural variation in no need of any cure. Delving into the nuances of self-advocacy within the group of people with dementia and other neuro-minorities respectively, as well as differences in how the conditions manifest, this chapter points to how the pitfalls might be navigated in order to avoid inviting harmful inferences and comparisons. An explorative stance is stipulated, allowing for norm-critical exploration of a wide and heterogenous spectrum of varieties in neuro-functioning, equating health with well-being rather than with what is statistically normal. This opens up to alternative ways of imagining the world, alternative relations and public spaces, and alternative knowledge production. Drawing on personal experiences of being a neurodivergent researcher, the chapter elucidates the benefits of approaching dementia without a neurotypical gaze. Finally, it discusses the potentials of opening to forms of sociality and communication that would not be centred around neurotypical norms.
