Neurodiversity and Radicalisation

 Sarah Wordlaw

Looking after our most vulnerable to prevent seeking extreme communities online

The nation was devastated in 2024 following the fatal stabbings of 3 children in Southport, with much discourse currently around what could have been done to prevent this awful incident happening. The perpetrator – Axel Rudakubana – is autistic, and in the lead up had been accessing extreme and graphic content online and ordering weapons via post (Hinsliff, 2026).

What can be said is that there was a failure of meaningful multi-agency work; Axel was a child in many different classrooms, without doubt displaying concerning behaviours, so much so he had been referred to Prevent three times.

Prevent is a UK government-led, multi-agency programme designed to stop people supporting terrorism or becoming terrorists. Terrorism is “designed to influence the government or an international governmental organisation or to intimidate the public or a section of the public; and for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause” (Home Office, 2024). Statistics show that there is a “staggeringly high number of autistic people who are referred to the government’s anti-radicalisation Prevent programme” (Grierson, 2021) but furthermore it is often autistic people who also have unstable home lives or additional “cognitive difficulty” (Grierson, 2021).

Now more than ever we need to understand the work of Kimberlé Crenshaw on intersectionality – understanding that the layers of social and personal identities a child has, deeply affects their lived experience of the world and how they are perceived by others – to be equipped to adequately safeguard our most vulnerable.

There is no direct link of course between neurodiversity and extremism, however, a higher proportion of neurodivergent children have experienced adverse childhood experiences than neurotypical children, meaning they are at more risk of exposure to traumatic experiences. We know that children being exposed to trauma has long-term developmental implications and causes toxic stress levels, impacting a child’s ability to regulate emotions, behaviour and disrupting cognitive development.

This in turn means that neurodivergent children could suffer more from stress-related mental health issues, many of which are associated with violence (Wilson et al, 2024). To be clear, this does not mean that all neurodivergent children are violent, more a framework to understand the potential vulnerabilities of some neurodivergent pupils and dig underneath the surface more.

What makes neurodivergent children more vulnerable to radicalisation?

In 2025, OFCOM sampled 8-14 year olds and found that on average children are spending over 3 hours everyday online, with Youtube and Snapchat accounting for the top drivers of screen time (Ofcom, 2025). Social media has become a source of news for many children, and when we add the additional vulnerability of being neurodivergent, this is concerning, particularly for those who are socially isolated, display hyper-fixation behaviours and those with communication barriers.

It is these vulnerabilities that put children at risk of radicalisation online as neurodivergent pupils may develop intense interests that, while serving psychological functions, could become associated with harmful subjects such as terrorism. These interests could include politics, military history, weapons, mass violence, technology, extremist ideologies and conspiracy theories (Lasting Support Services, 2026). This content can be easily accessed through social media or gaming platforms, with children with sensory issues fixating on high-stimuli video games and algorithms showing more and more damaging content.

Some children with social communication difficulties may be vulnerable to feelings such as isolation, resentment or feelings of personal grievance. This could, in combination with other factors, fuel revenge fantasies and identification with extreme ideologies that offer an explanation or social status.

Memes – a soft indoctrination

Memes are images, videos, pieces of text, or ideas that are copied, altered, and spread rapidly by internet users, typically featuring humorous, satirical or relatable content. They are however being increasingly used to share far right narratives, which makes children with cognitive disabilities at risk from the subtle messaging they provide. They begin to gradually shift what is seen as normal toward more extreme content.

Ideas such as:

• Nobody understands you (but we do)
• You must defend your people
• Start believing in yourself again
• Martyrdom narratives
• You have been lied to
• You don’t belong here (you belong with us)

These can also be seen through the use of extremist terms used to discredit “opponents”, creating dangerous us vs them narratives emotionally manipulating vulnerable children. Terms such as:

• Woke, agent, loser, cuck, sellout, whitewashed, feminist, groomer, secularist, coconut, dayooth, liberal Muslim, traitor

Memes are a soft indoctrination into radicalisation for vulnerable pupils as they are used as a tool to carry deeper ideological meaning for those ‘in the know’. They can also be a way to gradually isolate children from protective factors around them, making them more susceptible to lean into online communities and platforms (Lasting Support Services, 2026).

What can we do?

Know your terms

Recognising key words/terms can help educators to intervene early. Try resources such as ADL’s Hate Symbols Database, Moonshot and ISD to keep up to date. 

Seek first to understand

Working with children who are accessing radical content online or displaying concerning behaviours around this must be curiosity led. Rather then, “don’t say that!”, find out how and why they accessed that content and then work with parents (and multi-agencies where needed) to support the pupils. Questions such as, “tell me why you think that?” or “how did you find that out?” are a good place to start.

Neurodivergent-friendly practice

We need to recognise and respect the unique way neurodivergent pupils process information and emotions and sensory input. This includes shifting from a deficit model – trying to fix these behaviours – to a supportive model reducing environmental barriers and enhancing protective factors by working with parents, wider family and local services (such as Early Help, Social Care, Young Carers etc).

Create a strong sense of belonging

Belonging must be a starting point for all our practice. Ensure your school environment affirms neurodivergent identities through inclusive books, displays and curriculum. Facilitate structured clubs or activities that allow children to connect comfortably with peers based on shared interests and encourage children to be their authentic selves by having the freedom to engage in regulating behaviours (such as stimming, fidgeting etc). From a leadership perspective, make sure policies actively prevent bullying and promote a welcoming atmosphere for all and provide children with a sense of connection to their school community.

Using Trusted Faith Leaders to Build Digital Resilience

If you are concerned about the content a child is accessing, you can use trusted Faith leaders to build digital resilience, such as Mufti Menk, Hamza Yusuf and Omar Suleiman who promote moderation, spiritual wellbeing and critical thinking. They also counter extremist distortions of Islam with compassion and authenticity, using platforms such as TikTok with humorous short clips to garner large digital followings; they speak the language of young people! (Lasting Support Services, 2026).

Educating the community

Ensure you have a robust and up to date schedule of training for staff, parents and carers and a strong online safety curriculum. Think carefully about which parents you are trying to engage in parent training sessions and consider how they can access it – for example, if you always run coffee mornings, are you excluding working parents who may need to attend?

Overall, it is imperative we work to understand the intersecting layers of vulnerabilities for neurodivergent children, and their families, in order to keep them safe and develop inclusive spaces where they belong.

References

Home Office (2024) Statutory guidance, Glossary of Terms, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance/glossary-of-terms

Grierson, J (2021) ‘Staggeringly high’ number of autistic people on UK Prevent scheme, The Guardian, available at: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/07/staggeringly-high-number-of-people-with-autism-on-uk-prevent-scheme

Hinsliff, G (2026) Are Axel Rudakubana’s parents responsible for his terrible crime? It’s a question many families will fear to answer, The Guardian, available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/17/axel-rudakubana-parents-shame-warning-violent-behaviour

Lasting Support Services (2026) Radicalisation, Neurodivergency & Online Influence,

Ofcom (2025) Online Nation, Ofcom, available at: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/research-and-data/online-research/online-nation/2025/online-nations-report-2025.pdf?v=409837

Wilson, C, Butler, N, Moore, D and Bellis, M (2024) Relationships between neurodivergence status and adverse childhood experiences, and impacts on health, wellbeing, and criminal justice outcomes: findings from a regional household survey study in England, Springer Nature Link, available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12916-024-03821-1