Mapping the social geographies of autism – online and off-line narratives of neuro-shared and separate spaces
Hanna Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, Charlotte Brownlow, Lindsay O'Dell
2013
Disability & Society
Mapping the social geographies of autism -on-and off-line narratives of neuro-shared and separate spaces 3 Biographical Note Hanna Bertilsdotter Rosqvist has a PhD in Sociology and is a Research Fellow in Sociology and Gender studies at Umeå University, Sweden. Her research interests include autism politics and identity constructions among adults with autism. Other areas of interest are homonormativity and representations of bisexuality among men with bisexual experiences and in the Swedish
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... ight and gay press. Charlotte Brownlow has a PhD in Psychology and is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. Her research interests include a focus on exploring understandings of 'difference', particularly with relation to the fields of autism and developmental psychology more broadly. Lindsey O´Dell has a PhD in Psychology and is Director of Post Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Health and Social Care at the Open University, UK. Her research interests focus on children and young people who are in some way 'different' including neurological difference, working children, young carers and language brokers. Mapping the social geographies of autism -on-and off-line narratives of neuro-shared and separate spaces 4 Abstract This paper draws together empirical work that has been produced by the authors in two different autistic spaces: The Swedish paper Empowerment produced by and aimed at adults with autism, and English-speaking autistic communities on-line. While the two points of data collection are quite different, there are important points of commonality which enable us to explore central issues concerning autistic and neurotypical space and the meanings assigned to these in different contexts. The paper aims to introduce the notion of social geographies of autism, based on talks among adults with autism and a social movement to promote autistic identities, giving examples from our previous work that has spanned both on-and off-line spaces. Key issues discussed in the paper include a focus on autistic political platforms and the carving out of both social and political spaces for people with autism. In doing so, neuroseparate and neuro-shared spaces must be negotiated.
doi:10.1080/09687599.2012.714257
fatcat:kd5qibninnajhirtkjtd5rvgxu