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ERIC Number: EJ956596
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 4
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0968-7599
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Validating Difference and Counting the Cost of Exclusion in the Lives of People Who Identify as on the Autistic Spectrum
Young, Lauren L.
Disability & Society, v27 n2 p291-294 2012
This current issues piece will explore how autobiographies written by people with autism can help identify sensory processing differences that might be viewed as possible attributes in an enabling society, but for which ableist perceptions are often negative. In concrete terms, these constructions may be preventing people from entering employment and making an economic contribution. The first autobiography written by someone who identified as being on the autism spectrum was by David Eastham in 1985. Since then, over 50 such books have been published. The emergence of such autobiographies challenges assumptions about what it is to be on the autism spectrum. It was often assumed people with autism were incapable of such social communication, as autobiographies assume abilities such as self-awareness, imagination and the ability and desire to communicate. These were all traits that were thought to be absent in someone diagnosed with autism. Consequently, the presence of these autobiographies destabilises and questions the dichotomy that was set up between what constitutes "normal" and "abnormal" behaviour.
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A