Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, PhD 

Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, PhD (she/they) is a global advocate, educator, consultant, public speaker, parent, and non-binary woman of color with disabilities in a twice-exceptional, multicultural, neurodiverse, serodifferent adoptive family.

Morénike is involved in various social justice and human rights activism endeavors and has coordinated numerous initiatives, publications, research, and projects focusing on community engagement, equity, intersectionality, HIV, disability, and inclusion. Morénike has spoken at the White House, the United Nations, and a plethora of international conferences. Leadership roles include the Interagency Autism Coordinating Center and various global disability, HIV, education, research, and/or community organizations. Morénike’s experience includes the non-profit sector, PK-16 education, and CBPR research. Morénike’s work has been featured in outlets such as the NY Times, BBC, Spectrum, NPR, Salon, POZ, Voice of America, etc.

Founder and principal operator of Advocacy Without Borders, a grassroots community initiative,
Morénike is a Rice University Scholar at the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality; part of the leadership team for Foundations for Divergent Minds, Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, Dove Orchids, and other entities; and author/co-editor of All the Weight of Our Dreams: On Living Racialized Autism from DragonBee Press, Sincerely, Your Autistic Child: What Every Person on the Autism Spectrum Wishes Their Parents Knew About Growing Up, Acceptance, and Identity from Beacon Press and Neurodiversity en Noir (forthcoming from Jessica Kingsley Publishing).