Episode 280: Sanism and Cis-Heteronormativity in Professional Gatekeeping

Today’s episode critically examines “sane-heteroprofessionalism”—a concept asserting how sanism and cis-heteronormativity combine to dictate professional standards. Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, an autistic, GLP, trans educator, uses her lived experience within the special education system to validate and expand upon Davies et al.’s theoretical framework. She illustrates how professional gatekeeping operates as a disciplinary mechanism, often pathologising neurodivergent and queer embodiments whilst simultaneously extracting intellectual labor from those it marginalises. Dr. Hoerricks argues that current professional competency measures prioritise compliance and normative performance over genuine pedagogical skill, leading to epistemic violence and systemic exclusion for individuals whose ways of knowing challenge the status quo. Ultimately, she advocates for lived-experience scholarship to counter the academic void and reclaim narrative sovereignty for those historically silenced by exclusionary professional norms.

Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/sane-heteroprofessionalism-in-practice

Let me know what you think.