🧠🌈 Pride, Advocacy, and the Power of Speaking Up: A Letter to Our Neurodiverse LGBTQ+ Community & Allies 🧠🌈
June 4th, 2025
“We are powerful not despite our differences, but because of them.”
Dear Fellow Neurodiverse LGBTQ+ Community & Allies,
Yesterday I addressed the public leaders on inclusion, and today, I want to address the importance of advocacy and inclusion.
In today's world, it can be hard to speak up for yourself. I know that for a fact on a personal level. When you have a disability like autism, ADHD, Tourette's syndrome, dyslexia, etc., it can be hard to know when to speak up for yourself. Now, adding on your gender and/or sexual identity to the mix...it's important that we know how to stand up for ourselves when the time presents itself.
There's so much room for inclusion in the world. However, it's important that we note and address how we can be included in society. It may be hard, but everything we do in life takes time...might not take a lot of time and it might take "forever". We just have to be patient with the outcome.
Depending on where you're at with your disability, it's important to advocate for yourself and stand up to others to a certain degree or level. I know how it feels to be talked over, left out, or treated like I’m “too much.” But I also know how powerful it feels to be heard. That’s why I speak up — not just for myself, but for all of us!!!
Let's say that you struggle with being around crowds because you're claustrophobic and it's a sensory thing. You have autism, but you're not open about it because you're afraid people will treat you differently. Your friend invites you to go out to a bar with them on a Friday night. You like to socialize, but the bar they invited you to go to gets busy on Friday nights. You can use self-advocacy in this moment to say, "you know what? I'm going to pass. As much as I would love to join you, I get overwhelmed when I'm around big crowds."
Where does this fit in with boundaries? Well, advocacy and boundaries CAN go hand-in-hand. The thing is, you have to know your values, know what you're comfortable with, know your boundaries. This is where self-care comes in. There comes a fine line between healthy self-care and too much self-care. (I can go into this in a different blog).
Allies! How does this apply to you?! As someone who is a caretaker, therapist, social worker, teacher, friend, family member, parent, neighbor, etc. of someone who is "different" in their sexuality and behavior/personality, YOU CAN ADVOCATE!!! WHAT!!!?!?! That's CRAZY!! #mindblown
It's true! By stepping up to local lawmakers, employers, doctors, etc. who work as professional supports to our Neurodivergent LGBTQ+ community, we need YOU! If your child, friend, family member, student, etc. isn't being treated fairly, you have the power to help them stand up for themselves. If a church member is treating this individual that you care about poorly, you can tell them off (politely) and tell them that this person that they're talking down about is a person too. They may not think the same way or experience the world the same way. They may not talk at all, but they can communicate DIFFERENTLY and that shouldn't be hard for them to comprehend.
I am so grateful to my parents, teachers, and neighbors who've helped advocate for me when I couldn't do so.
Let's all speak up and give voice to those who cannot fully speak!
Let us communicate what needs to be communicated to all!
Differences aside, we are all human!! It's not that hard to come to this understanding that we need unity, belonging, love, and understanding WITH inclusion!
Us neurodiverse folks (especially who are in the LGBTQ+ community) are sick and tired of feeling left out in a world that needs us as much as we need it!
I included the Podcast and an image below that I feel are important to look at.
Don't be discouraged to speak up!
🗣️ Inclusion without advocacy is incomplete. Let’s show up, speak up, and shake things up — together.
🌈 This Pride Month, let’s celebrate more than just visibility — let’s fight for real inclusion. For ourselves. For each other. For the future.
Advocacy takes time!
Keep it up!!
Love always,
Alyssa Marin, your fellow neurospicy queerdo 🧠🌈
How to Teach Self-Advocacy (12-min)|Podcast
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