Many people are talking about neurodiversity these days. This workshop will provide an overview of the history of the neurodiversity movement, its useful impacts and reformist limitations, and a new critical turn in the movement that is positioning authentic neurodiversity justice as anti-capitalist. With a new conceptual tool to analyze our struggles for liberation that Zosia is calling “neuromarxist theory,” participants will learn how capitalist systems rely on ableism to thrive and how disability justice destabilizes paradigms that sustain the current system. Participants will also have a chance to explore the importance of solidarity between workers and non-workers in fighting oppression that harms both groups and to reflect on what it means to build a society that values people beyond their ability to produce.

Zosia Zaks has worked in the field of disability justice for over 20 years. Using a Critical Disability Theory lens, his research focuses on paradigm change from normalization toward affirmation in special education and clinical support for disabled people. He earned his doctorate in human development at Fielding Graduate University, where he studied sociocultural theory of development and fought to destigmatize our understanding of how human beings grow and learn. He has also worked as a disability counselor for over twenty years. Zosia speaks nationally on autism and neurodiversity; consults with school districts, agencies, and organizations wanting to incorporate disability into DEI initiatives and priorities; and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on development and disability through a social justice lens. He brings unique perspectives to his work as an autistic transgender self-advocate and parent of two neurodivergent young adults.