Judy Singer

Judy Singer (born 12 April 1951) is an Australian sociologist, known for helping to popularise the term neurodiversity.

Biography
As the daughter of a Jewish mother who survived World War II, Judy Singer grew up in Australia. For many years, she worked as a computer consultant and later became a single mother. She noticed traits in her daughter that resembled the social difficulties of her mother. Later, Singer's daughter was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. Singer has also described herself as "likely somewhere on the autistic spectrum."

Before the diagnosis, Judy began studying sociology at the University of Technology Sydney and delved into British and American disability studies. While following the virtual activism of autistic and other neurologically different people in the mid-1990s, particularly on the Independent Living Mailing List (ILMV) forum, she met journalist Harvey Blume. Due to accreditation of the origin of the term 'neurodiversity' to Singer by Steve Silberman in his book, NeuroTribes, Singer is often credited with the creation of the term neurodiversity to represent both the idea of neurological diversity and to think about the existence of a social movement of neurological minorities that would also include the autism rights movement. However, this term first appeared in publication in a 1998 article by Harvey Blume, a year before Singer included it in a book chapter discussing the development of the concept of 'neurological diversity' online. In this chapter, Singer did not claim to have created the term, and only used it in passing.

In Australia, Singer also created ASpar, a group to support families of autistic people. In 2016, she published the book Neurodiversity: The Birth of an Idea.

In June 2023, Judy made a series of transphobic comments on Twitter for which she garnered backlash.

Publications

 * Neurodiversity: The birth of an Idea (2016)