To NEUROMANCE means to “fall in love with (neuro)divergency”.

 
“Much of the mainstream education around neurodivergency focused on conforming to capitalism, rather than abolishing it. I created NEUROMANCERS at the age of 15, determined to carve a space for Black (and other non-white) people to feel centred in this conversation, where we can collectively recognise the innately political nature of care work. Two years on, I am very proud of NEUROMANCERS’ evolving achievements and ever-excited to see where we grow in the future.”
— Aiyana Goodfellow, founding director of NEUROMANCERS

What is NEUROMANCERS?

NEUROMANCERS is an abolitionist community organisation for and by neurodivergents.

We are Black-person-led and fully-queer-facilitated, which does not only relate to who leads the space, but the radical lineages and inspirations that guide us as we promote healing and resistance outside of, and in active opposition, to psychiatry’s pathologisation of neurodivergent people. 

NEUROMANCERS is UK based, but, being largely digital for accessibility in a pandemic, our team members are international. We focus on the most marginalized people affected by systemic violence but don't exclude others who are willing to put in the work to actively learn. We hold a range of ages, races, identities, and experiences but are united in our goals for liberation. We are not experts, but learn through lived experience, and as abolitionists are welcome to accountability. Meet the team here.

To us, to be neurodivergent is not only related to our neurology but also a commitment to diverging from and annihilating systems of normality by allowing our creative, resilient brains to dream up worlds of liberation. Neurodivergency is inherently political, and liberationist politics are inherently divergent.

We practice this by…

  • publishing articles and essays discussing neurodiversity and anti-oppression;

  • caring for our mad, mentally ill, neurodivergent and disabled (MMIND) community through Peer Solidarity;

  • centring multi-marginalised Black and brown people with mutual aid and wealth redistribution;

  • encouraging collective education on the topics of capitalism, abolition and liberation;

  • building spaces of intimacy, knowledge, and autonomy where we can NEUROMANCE or ‘fall in love with our neurodivergency’.

These are encompassed by our three-part organising: Creative Expression, Peer Solidarity, & Mutual Aid.

Our Values

NEUROMANCERS has five core values that inform the basis of our work:

1. UTOPIA is a concept that must be imagined if we believe that neurodivergent people can truly be free from the oppression of an ableist society. The practice of utopia is not a practice of unrealistic or unthinking optimism, but an aim to find unmasked joy, rest and community in the existence of ourselves and others, by any means necessary.

2. We are UNBINARY in that we reject capitalism, white supremacy, racism, ageism, ableism, speciesism, anti-queerness, slut-shaming, anti-fatness, the medical model, police, prisons, schools…all dichotomist institutions and oppressive systems. Being unbinary means we recognise this is a conscious process. Undoing this damage requires hard work and (un)learning.

3. LOVE is inherent to the work we do. We love and appreciate our communities. As well as the stress, pain, confusion and trauma that often results from being a neurodivergent person in ableist societies, we acknowledge the beauty and creativity in neurodiversity and neurodivergent people everywhere. To ‘NEUROMANCE’ is to fall in love with our neurodivergency.

4 & 5. HONESTY & VULNERABILITY are how connections are built. Without the honesty and vulnerability of neurodivergent people around us, many of us wouldn’t even know about our own neurotypes. It requires trust and openness to build a new world, one that counters the lies that we’ve grown up with.

Our History

This initially small community was co-founded by Aiyana Goodfellow and M.G. and has expanded into a ‘NEURO-VERSE’ - a radical neurodivergent organisation. NEUROMANCERS began back in November 2020 when a project collaboration formed by the name of #NeurodiversityNovember. During this time, the two facilitators of this project began a journey in understanding their own neurodiversity, along with many contributors who shared their experiences of being neurodivergent as part of the #NeurodiversityNovember series. This project blossomed into a small community and support group and has grown consistently ever since.

We are inspired by a long history of Black, brown, queer, mad and disabled activists. We are students to this work. We honour our lineages of liberation.

  • I joined NM as a peer support group. Everyone was very supportive, kind, and relatable. Then I learned about the abolitionist values and framework behind NM and it is sort of everything that I wish for in a community working towards collective liberation.

    Team Member

  • I find it a positive space, I joined because I was in search of community and I have found that.

    Team Member

  • i’ve always wanted to work at the intersections of abolition + disability justice/MAD pride and NEUROMANCERS provides a safe and imaginative space to explore that!

    Team Member

  • i was really looking for a place to land politically and communally. a space that was grounded in truly radical ideas where my neuroexpansiveness would not just be accepted but celebrated…i wanted to be in a black led space as i want to achieve true black liberation.

    Team Member

  • I’ve never found a project more intentionally intersectional and genuinely grassroots than NEUROMANCERS. I feel safe having a space for psychiatric survivors and excited about our abolitionist futures — dreaming and making.

    Team Member