Glossary

These definitions were adapted from the Green Peak Alliance interview with Davey Shlasko of Think Again Training and Consulting, unless otherwise cited.

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Transgender/Trans: A person whose gender identity now is different than the gender they were assigned at birth. For example, if someone is born and the doctor says “it’s a boy” and that kid grows up and says “I’m a girl,” that person would probably identify as a trans girl. 

Cisgender: A person whose gender identity now is the same as the gender they were assigned at birth.

Non-binary: Refers to genders outside of the two category system of man and woman. Anyone whose gender identity is not simply man or woman might describe themselves or their gender as non-binary. There is not one single way to be non-binary; it refers to any gender outside of the man-woman binary. 

Genderfluid: A person whose gender identity is not fixed from day to day. A person who some days feels more like a man, some days feels more like a woman, some days feels more non-binary, and some days feels more a different kind of non-binary might identify as genderfluid. Not all non-binary people are genderfluid, many non-binary people have a very fixed gender identity. 

Queer: A reclaimed term used by many members of the LGBTQ+ community to describe themselves. Queer has historically been used as an insult for people who are not straight and cisgender, but many have reclaimed it as a positive term for their own identity and community. 

Intersectionality: A term coined by Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, who defined it in a Time Magazine interview as “a lens, a prism for seeing the way in which various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other.” To read this interview, visit: https://time.com/5786710/kimberle-crenshaw-intersectionality/

Neurodiversity: Neurodiversity refers to the diversity of human minds, and the various ways in which our brains differ from one another in terms of structures and processes.

Neurodivergent: Neurodivergent refers to brains that work differently from the societal standard of the “normal”  brain. Conditions that make someone neurodivergent include autism, ADHD, and dyslexia, among many others. Non-innate events such as brain injuries can also make someone neurodivergent. Anyone regardless of sexuality or gender identity can be Neurodivergent.  To learn more about neurodiversity, neurodivergence, and related terms, visit: https://neurocosmopolitanism.com/neurodiversity-some-basic-terms-definitions/