Introducing "Figuring Autism": A New Collaborative Project on Metaphors and Analogies in Autism Discourse

How do we talk about autism?

The language used to describe autism is far from neutral. Across scientific publications, clinical literature, journalism, institutional communications, advocacy, and personal accounts, metaphors and analogies are frequently used to explain what autism is, how autistic people experience the world, and how their characteristics and behaviours are understood.

Autism may be represented as a burden, autistic people may be described as living in their own world, and expressions such as masking or camouflaging are used to describe particular experiences of social adaptation. Some of these expressions are well established, while others emerge in particular historical, cultural, or disciplinary contexts.

Such expressions can serve different purposes: explaining unfamiliar experiences, communicating subjective perspectives, developing scientific models, or supporting particular interpretations of autism. Their meaning and implications depend on how, where, and by whom they are used.

Although metaphors in autism discourse have already been examined in various academic studies, their occurrences remain dispersed across different sources, periods, languages, and fields.

Figuring Autism aims to provide a common resource for documenting, comparing, and studying these expressions systematically.

What is Figuring Autism?

Figuring Autism is a new project hosted by AutiHub, an open, citizen-led platform dedicated to documenting and examining the production and representation of knowledge about autism.

The project aims to create a publicly accessible, structured database of metaphors and analogies used to describe autism, autistic people, or experiences and characteristics explicitly associated with autism.

Its scope extends beyond scientific literature. The corpus is intended to include academic publications, historical clinical texts, media coverage, institutional documents, advocacy materials, cultural productions, autobiographical accounts, and other publicly accessible discourse.

The focus is specifically on metaphors and analogies used to talk about autism, rather than metaphorical uses of the words autism or autistic to describe unrelated phenomena.

The project is also distinct from research investigating how autistic people understand or produce figurative language. Instead, it examines the figurative language used to represent autism itself, including expressions used by autistic people.

Building an open and researchable corpus

Rather than compiling a simple list of expressions, Figuring Autism aims to document individual occurrences in their original contexts.

Each occurrence will be associated, whenever possible, with its source, original excerpt, bibliographic information, author, date, language, and relevant contextual information.

The project also intends to support structured linguistic analysis, including the identification of metaphorical expressions, their conceptual relationships, and their potential communicative functions.

An important methodological objective is to make the identification and analysis processes explicit, documented, and open to discussion. Established approaches to metaphor identification and analysis, including MIPVU, are among the methods being considered.

The intention is not to impose a single theoretical interpretation on every occurrence. Different analytical frameworks may be applicable to the same material, allowing their results to be documented, compared, and discussed.

The resulting database is intended to support different forms of research, including historical investigations, discourse analysis, comparisons across languages and contexts, and studies of how representations of autism change over time.

Data consultation and export will be freely accessible, with attention to source traceability, methodological transparency, and collaborative review.

A collaborative project from the outset

Figuring Autism is being developed as a collaborative initiative rather than a completed resource to which contributors will simply be invited to add data.

Several aspects of the project remain open to discussion, particularly the development of its methodological protocols, annotation framework, terminology, and procedures for reviewing contributions.

We would especially welcome participation from:

• Linguists and discourse analysts, particularly those working on metaphor, analogy, semantics, pragmatics, and conceptual representations.
• Autism researchers and scholars interested in the historical, scientific, social, and cultural representations of autism.
• Autistic people, including researchers and non-academic contributors, interested in documenting or examining how autism and autistic experiences are described.
• Universities, research teams, and other organisations interested in contributing methodological expertise, documentary resources, or collaborative research.
• Anyone interested in the project, whether by suggesting relevant sources, identifying expressions, reviewing annotations, or participating in discussions.

Contributions may take different forms, from occasional suggestions to more sustained involvement in developing the project.

An important aim is to ensure that autistic perspectives are included in the development of the corpus and its analytical approaches, alongside contributions from different disciplinary backgrounds.

Planned launch in January 2027

Figuring Autism is currently in its development phase. Work is underway on the database structure, the identification and analysis protocols, and the interfaces that will allow contributors to submit and review occurrences.

The initial public launch is planned for January 2027, with the project expected to evolve progressively as its corpus, methods, and community of contributors develop.

However, there is no need to wait until the public launch to become involved. This development phase is an opportunity to discuss the project's direction, contribute methodological suggestions, identify relevant resources, and help establish its collaborative foundations.

Interested in contributing to Figuring Autism?

We welcome contact from individuals, researchers, universities, and organisations interested in participating in the project or exploring potential collaborations.

You can already contribute to building the corpus, even while the project is still under development. A reporting form is available to suggest metaphors, figurative comparisons, or analogies used to represent autism, autistic people, or associated experiences.

Submissions may come from a wide range of sources, including scientific publications, media articles, personal accounts, speeches, conferences, videos, and visual materials. Simply provide the passage in its original language (or a description in the case of visual material), together with a reference or link that allows the source to be located. Additional contextual information is welcome, but no prior linguistic analysis or classification is required. Reports can be submitted anonymously and are reviewed by the team before any potential inclusion in the corpus.

To become more involved in developing the project, propose a collaboration, or contribute to methodological discussions, you can get in touch through the AutiHub contact form or join the discussions in the AutiHub Discord community.

Figuring Autism is an invitation to collectively document and investigate the language through which autism has been, and continues to be, described and understood.