Main description:

Includes 29 newly written chapters from scholars and activists around the world.
First book to provide an overview of Critical Autism Studies and explore the different kinds of knowledges and their articulations, similarities and differences across cultural contexts and key tensions within this sub-discipline.
Of interest to all scholars and students of disability studies, sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, education, health, social care and political science as well as members of the autistic community and activists.

Contents:

1.Critical Autism Studies: An Introduction. Part One.Conceptualising Autism. 2.First There Is A Mountain, Then There Is No Mountain, Then There Is. Whither Identity?. 3.Critically Contextualising 'Normal' Development and the Construction of the Autistic Individual. 4.Dimensions of Difference. 5.Heterogeneity and Clustering in Autism: An Introduction for Critical Scholars. 6.Rational (Pathological) Demand Avoidance: As a Mental Disorder and an Evolving Social Construct. 7.Community Psychology as Reparations for Violence in the Construction of Autism Knowledge. Part Two.Autistic Identity. 8.Through the Lens of (Black) Critical Race Theory. 9.Postponing Humanity: Pathologising Autism, Childhood and Motherhood. 10.'It sort of like gets squared': Health Professionals' Understanding of the Intersection of Autism and Gender Diversity in Young People. 11.Autistic Young People's Sense of Self and the Social World: A Challenge to Deficit Focused Characterisations. 12.A Personal Account of Neurodiversity, Academia and Activism. Part Three.Community and Culture. 13.'Autopia'; A Vision for Autistic Acceptance and Belonging. 14.The Moulin Rouge and the Rouge Moulin: Language, Cartesianism, Republicanism and the Construct of Autism in France. 15.Support on whose Terms? Competing Meanings of Support Aimed at Autistic People. 16.Critical Autism Parenting. 17."Even though I'm on the Spectrum, I'm still capable of falling in love": A Bourdieusian Analysis of Representations of Autism and Sexuality on Love on the Spectrum. 18.Seeking Sunflowers: The Biopolitics of Autism at the Airport. Part Four.Practice. 19.Autistic Identity, Culture, Community and Space for Wellbeing. 20.Contemplating Teacher Talk through a Critical Autism Studies Lens. 21.Models of Helping and Coping with Autism. 22.Critical Approaches to Autism Support Practice: Engaging Situated Reflection and Research. 23.From Disempowerment to Wellbeing and Flow: Enabling Autistic Communication in Schools. 24.Autistic Voices in Autistic Research: Towards Active Citizenship in Autism Research.