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The autism rights movement, also known as the autistic acceptance movement, is a social movement allied with the disability rights movement. It emphasizes the neurodiversity paradigm, viewing autism as a set of naturally occurring variations in human cognition, a disability with both strengths and weaknesses, rather than as a disease to be cured or a disorder to be treated, diverging from the medical model of disability.
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Classic autism, also known as childhood autism, autistic disorder, (early) infantile autism, infantile psychosis, Kanner's autism, Kanner's syndrome, or (formerly) just autism, is a neurodevelopmental condition first described by Leo Kanner in 1943. It is characterized by atypical and impaired development in social interaction and communication as well as restricted, repetitive behaviors, activities, and interests. These symptoms first appear in early childhood and persist throughout life.
Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by repetitive, restricted, and inflexible patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, as well as deficits in social interaction and social communication. Autism generally affects a person's ability to understand and connect with others, as well as their adaptability to everyday situations, with its severity and support needs varying widely across the underlying spectrum. For example, some are nonverbal, while others have proficient spoken language.
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Alison Kafer is an American academic specializing in feminist, queer, and disability theory. As of 2019, she is an associate professor of feminist studies at the University of Texas, Austin. She is the author of the book Feminist, Queer, Crip.
The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum is a 2013 nonfiction popular science book written by Temple Grandin and Richard Panek and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. It discusses Grandin's life experiences as a person with autism from the early days of scientific research on the topic and how advances in technology have revolutionized the understanding of autism and its connection to the brain.
Current research indicates that autistic people have higher rates of LGBTQ identities and feelings than the general population. A variety of explanations for this have been proposed, such as prenatal hormonal exposure, which has been linked with sexual orientation, gender dysphoria and autism. Alternatively, autistic people may be less reliant on social norms and thus are more open about their orientation or gender identity. A narrative review published in 2016 stated that while various hypotheses have been proposed for an association between autism and gender dysphoria, they lack strong evidence.
The theory of the double empathy problem is a psychological and sociological theory first coined in 2012 by Damian Milton, an autistic autism researcher. This theory proposes that many of the difficulties autistic individuals face when socializing with non-autistic individuals are due, in part, to a lack of mutual understanding between the two groups, meaning that most autistic people struggle to understand and empathize with non-autistic people, whereas most non-autistic people also struggle to understand and empathize with autistic people. This lack of understanding may stem from bidirectional differences in dispositions, and experiences between autistic and non-autistic individuals, but not necessarily an inherent deficiency. Recent studies have shown that most autistic individuals are able to socialize, communicate effectively, empathize well or build good rapport, and display social reciprocity with most other autistic individuals. This theory and subsequent findings challenge the commonly held belief that the social skills of autistic individuals are inherently and universally impaired across contexts, as well as the theory of "mind-blindness" proposed by prominent autism researcher Simon Baron-Cohen in the mid-1990s, which suggested that empathy and theory of mind are universally impaired in autistic individuals.
Damian Elgin Maclean Milton is a British sociologist and social psychologist who specialises in autism research and is an autism rights advocate. He is a lecturer at the University of Kent as well as a consultant for the United Kingdom's National Autistic Society and has academic qualifications in sociology, psychology, philosophy, and education.
Infodumping is the action of supplying a large amount of information at once. The term was first used in 1978 in the Proceedings of the Southeastcon Region 3 Conference 353.
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References
- ↑ Woods, Richard; Waldock, Krysia Emily (2021). "Critical Autism Studies". In Volkmar, Fred R. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders (2nd ed.). Cham: Springer. pp. 1240–1248. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-91280-6_102297. ISBN 978-3-319-91280-6.
- ↑ O’Dell, Lindsay; Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, Hanna; Ortega, Francisco; Brownlow, Charlotte; Orsini, Michael (2016). "Critical autism studies: exploring epistemic dialogues and intersections, challenging dominant understandings of autism". Disability & Society . 31 (2): 166–179. doi:10.1080/09687599.2016.1164026 (inactive 1 November 2024).
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link) - 1 2 3 4 5 6 Milton, Damian; Ryan, Sara (2022-10-21). The Routledge International Handbook of Critical Autism Studies (1 ed.). London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003056577. ISBN 978-1-003-05657-7.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Freeman Loftis, Sonya (2023-12-13). "Critical Autism Studies: The State of the Field". Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture. 5 (1). doi:10.9707/2833-1508.1147. ISSN 2833-1508.
- 1 2 3 Woods, Richard; Milton, Damian; Arnold, Larry; Graby, Steve (2018-07-03). "Redefining Critical Autism Studies: a more inclusive interpretation". Disability & Society. 33 (6): 974–979. doi:10.1080/09687599.2018.1454380. ISSN 0968-7599.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Mallipeddi, Nathan V.; VanDaalen, Rachel A. (2022-12-01). "Intersectionality Within Critical Autism Studies: A Narrative Review". Autism in Adulthood. 4 (4): 281–289. doi:10.1089/aut.2021.0014. ISSN 2573-9581. PMC 9908281 . PMID 36777375.
- ↑ Rozema, Robert (2023-12-13). "Note from the Editors: Critical Autism Studies". Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture. 5 (1). doi:10.9707/2833-1508.1151. ISSN 2833-1508.
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