The Impossible Subject: Belonging as a Neurodivergent in Congregations
Neurodivergent people have been reported in academic literature to not always feel a sense of belonging within church congregations. Previous scholarship has highlighted that some neurodivergent people may be stigmatized and/or excluded within congregational settings. However little attention has be...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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Published: |
Taylor & Francis
2023
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In: |
Journal of disability & religion
Year: 2023, Volume: 27, Issue: 4, Pages: 568-583 |
Further subjects: | B
Church
B neurodiversity B Stigma B normalcy B Belonging B Congregation |
Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
Summary: | Neurodivergent people have been reported in academic literature to not always feel a sense of belonging within church congregations. Previous scholarship has highlighted that some neurodivergent people may be stigmatized and/or excluded within congregational settings. However little attention has been paid to how neurodivergent people belong within congregations, especially from a neurodivergent perspective. Using an autoethnographic methodology, I interrogate my own personal narrative of belonging within congregational spaces. I blended Goffman’s social stigma theory and Scambler’s theorization of social stigma to examine a neurodivergent experience within church congregations, and to explore the interface between being neurodivergent and feeling a sense of belonging in a church congregation. This autoethnography highlights how impression management (particularly passing and masking) are central to the feelings of belonging, and lack of belonging, I experienced. How church is “done” also appears to influence feelings of belonging, with norms in the churches mentioned in the narrative often shaped by normalcy. |
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ISSN: | 2331-253X |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of disability & religion
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/23312521.2023.2249452 |