Nothing to Bragg About: Examining the Search for Autistic Representation in History (original) (raw)
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This review essay from 2007 critiques procedures and implications of diagnosing autism in deceased historical figures, evaluating two studies by Professor Michael Fitzgerald (2004, 2005). In the years since writing the essay, my views on some arguments voiced here have changed. While the review adopts in places a micro-critical approach, I would now emphasise the fuller importance of these two books. In celebrating autism and creativity, Fitzgerald’s work presents a vital counterpart to dominant assumptions that autistic people lack both empathy and imagination. In an era when autism continues to be associated mainly with ability in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths), Fitzgerald’s considerations of how autistic talent may also flourish in the fields of literature, art and philosophy offer much to be admired and reflected upon.
Emory University Graduate Insititute of Liberal Arts Autistic Human Rights-A Proposal
ahead.org
The field of disability studies has made great strides in its short history -gaining recognition in academic departments, empowering self-advocacy groups, and drawing attention to the importance of the physical and social environment to people with physical and cognitive difference. Many disability related theories have been inspired by feminist and African American studies scholars, and most have centered on people with physical impairments. Disability scholar Michael Bérubé (2010) explains that the field's focus on physical disability is partially caused by the fact that "you don't find a lot of people with severe cognitive disabilities holding academic positions" and that, because of fears surrounding speaking for another in this "post-something" academic era, scholars and advocates have been reluctant to discuss the issues encountered in this population. As a result, a disability related model of human rights has struggled to include all ranges of intellect and cognition.
Over and Over and Over: A Continued Call for Autistic Voices
Canadian journal of autism equity, 2021
As an Autistic student in a master's degree, I focused on the way expertise is understood. I was specifically interested in how policy decisions in education were made without Autistic involvement. I looked at the literature that was used to make these decisions and interviewed Autistic people as to their thoughts on who should be considered experts when it comes to autism. I found that policy was driven by experts who had little to no direct experience with autism or Autistics and who had no personal connections to the approaches they recommended. I argue that Autistic people must be involved in research design, execution, implementation, dissemination, and policy decisions. Résumé En tant qu'étudiant autiste en train d'effectuer une maîtrise, je me suis concentré sur notre compréhension de la notion d'expertise. Je m'intéressais plus particulièrement à la manière dont les décisions politiques en matière d'éducation étaient prises sans la participation des personnes autistes. J'ai étudié les ouvrages utilisés pour prendre ces décisions et j'ai interrogé des personnes autistes pour savoir qui, selon elles, devait être considéré comme un(e) expert(e) en matière d'autisme. J'ai découvert que les politiques étaient façonnées par des experts qui avaient peu ou pas d'expérience directe avec l'autisme et les personnes autistes, et qui n'avaient pas souvent des liens personnels avec les approches qu'ils recommandaient. Je soutiens que les personnes autistes doivent être impliquées dans la conception, l'exécution, la mise en oeuvre et la diffusion de la recherche, ainsi que dans les décisions politiques.
Commentary: On Being Autistic, and Social. Ethos.
Ethos, 2010
Abstract In psychology and allied disciplines, autism has been erroneously conceived as a disease that precludes meaningful social behavior. Anthropologists are beginning to address this problem by rejecting the narrow confines of what constitutes human social functioning, and by showing the complex ways in which autistic children and adults participate in and contribute to their societies. At the same time, anthropologists have begun to contextualize public debates about autism prevalence and etiology in historical and cultural processes. This commentary identifies two major disjunctions in contemporary public debates about autism: the first between a depersonalized form of knowledge constructed by science and a narcissistic claim for knowledge that privileges anecdotal, personal experience; the second between a “mainstream” discourse on science and a new discourse on science that explains autism in terms of environmental insults. These new environmental perspectives, especially those that concern vaccine damage, can be situated in late modernity. They mediate between a nostalgic memory of ontological certainty, trust, and authenticity and a postmodern world characterized by a loss of faith in scientific institutions. [autism, sociality, vaccines, advocacy]
Autonomy the Critical Journal of Interdisciplinary Autism Studies, 2014
In this paper the authors try to provide a constructionist review with regards to the autistic subjectivity. Placing autism in a historical terrain, they use ideas stemming from social constructionism in order to examine the core subject of this paper that is the way autism has been treated in psychoanalytic discourse. The authors examine the evolution of psychoanalytic ideas making inferences on the wider social context surrounding autism and psychoanalysis. 1 1 Editors Note: The psychoanalytic tradition is controversial in autism for a number of reasons, and some readers may find the terminology describing autism offensive from the social model perspective. However I include the article in the spirit of openness and debate which this journal hopes to encourage. (LA)
Re-Authoring Autism for the Twenty-First Century: Implications and Possibilities
Audeamus Honors Journal, 2013
In this paper, I will be mostly concerned with addressing these topics: reasserting, in synchrony with much contemporary literary theory, the ambiguity of the author—or “founder”—of autism discourse; giving one brief genealogical account of the first articulators of autism; the underlying definition of autism as it is understood through this lens and one other; and lastly I will draw on a few possibilities that this paradigm opens up for personhood in the 21st century.
2020
is one of the most important and influential thinkers of the 20th century. The reach of this influence continues to grow as we settle into the 21st century, the resonance of Lacan's thought arguably only beginning now to be properly felt, both in terms of its application to clinical matters and in its application to a range of human activities and interests. The Palgrave Lacan Series is a book series for the best new writing in the Lacanian field, giving voice to the leading writers of a new generation of Lacanian thought. The series will comprise original monographs and thematic, multi-authored collections. The books in the series will explore aspects of Lacan's theory from new perspectives and with original insights. There will be books focused on particular areas of or issues in clinical work. There will be books focused on applying Lacanian theory to areas and issues beyond the clinic, to matters of society, politics, the arts and culture. Each book, whatever its particular concern, will work to expand our understanding of Lacan's theory and its value in the 21st century.
Can Autistics Redefine Autism? The Cultural Politics of Autistic Activism
2014
The author acknowledges many professional and institutional agents prefer the use of people first language when referencing autistics; however, this project focuses on the narrative of autistic individuals including many who write extensively on the politics of identity first/people first language 1. I take great care to honor each individual's declared naming convention when referencing their words, cultural productions and political efforts whether the stated preference is for identity first signifiers such as 'autistic person,' 'autistic activist' etc., or people first 'person with autism,' 'individual with autism,' or 'those diagnosed with autism.' "The Neurodiversity Movement stands for the idea that we should view neurology through the same civil rights lens as we currently view race, religion, sexual orientation and other forms of what's termed 'legitimate human difference.'"-Ari Ne'eman, (CBC News)
Autism in International Relations Academia
In this article, I explain how International Relations scholarship relates to ableism. Ableism is a sociopolitical system of narratives, institutions, and actions collectively reinforcing an ideology that benefits persons deemed able-bodied, able-minded, and normal by others, and devalues, limits, and discriminates against those deemed physically and/or mentally disabled and abnormal. International Relations scholars have been quick to utilize disability metaphors as rhetorical support for their arguments and analyses. This article discusses how metaphors in general — and disability metaphors in particular — get their meaning from various other discourses and narratives. International Relations scholars, in the case of disability metaphors, often draw from discourses and narratives that perpetuate ableism. I demonstrate how disability metaphors can be ableist by researching how several International Relations foreign policy analysts and theorists have applied autism metaphors. I argue that International Relations’ uses of autism metaphors are ableist insomuch as they shape or reinforce understandings of autism that often oversimplify, overgeneralize, or otherwise misrepresent autism and Autistic people in ways that portray autism negatively. In the conclusion, I reflect on the importance of a disability studies program in International Relations and the broad set of topics that such a program should pursue.
2019
Law. The author extends a special thank you to Ashley Puchalski, one of his first and best LRW students, who saw potential in him just as he in her-the journey of professor and student always evolving. Additionally, he would like to thank his TA Lara Carpenter for sending him research which shaped this article when he was in a wifi-desert in western Maryland for months this summer. He also could not have written this article without the love and support of Andrea Johnson (human spouse), Pup Johnson-Stump (oldest dog child), and Sam Johnson-Stump (youngest dog child). This article is dedicated to the professors who saw what the middle school guidance counselors did notthat he was capable, worthy, and good, as well as other Autistic people who deserve to be seen as necessary, wanted, and contributors in the workplace.
Autism and Outiderism: The Art of George Widener
International Journal of Art Through Education, 2020
Until recently, Outsider Art has escaped the examination that has been given other colonialist labels, such as Orientalism and Primitivism. Contemporary artists, suchas George Widener, who slip in between mainstream and Outsider artworlds, pose lingering questions about this category. As an autistic artist, Widener also upends the misrepresentations about the spectrum in both the artworld and art education. I suggest that although Widener does not serve as a representative of the autistic or Outsider Art communities, he does serve as an example of entrenched notions of art and disability in these worlds. In this article, I ask how labels might be discarded so that we can enjoy artists who tell us about the neuro-diverse interior of individuals. Removed from outwardly imposed categories, we might re-imagine art in society and art in schools