Autism and the Question of the Human

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Bergenmar, J., Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, H., & Lönngren, A. S. (2015). Autism and the Question of the Human. Literature and Medicine, 33(1), 202-221. https://doi.org/10.1353/lm.2015.0009

Publication date: 1 Mar 2015 Added to AutiHub: 4 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
3
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 3 (33.3%)
  1. Jenny Bergenmar
  2. Hanna Bertilsdotter Rosqvist *
  3. Ann-Sofie Lönngren

Abstract

The article explores how normative notions of emotions and interaction are active in constructions of the categories of "human" and "animal" in different discourses about autism: scientific and autobiographical. In the scientific discourse of autistic emotionality, a deficit perspective of autism is central. The general affective deficit discourse relies on normative discursive notions of "humanity" or "human emotionality." Thus, neurotypicals are produced as real "humans" and neurotypical emotionality as "normal" human emotionality. This human normativity is challenged in the Swedish autobiographical texts by Gunilla Gerland (b. 1963), Iris Johansson (b. 1945) and Immanuel Brändemo (b. 1980). Along with American authors of autobiographies about autism, such as Temple Grandin's Thinking in Pictures (1995) and Dawn Prince-Hughes' Songs of the Gorilla Nation (2004) they destabilize the categories of "human" and "animal" by identifying with nonhuman animals, describing themselves as such, or feeling disqualified as real humans.

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Cited references
72
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
2 / 72 (2.8%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
2 / 129 (1.6%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 2 / 19 (10.5%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 2 / 124 (1.6%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
19 / 129 (14.7%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 16 / 124 (12.9%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
17 / 19 (89.5%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 17 / 129 (13.2%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 14 / 16 (87.5%).
2 cited bibliography entries could not be fully enriched from DOI metadata.
Crossref: not found (1) · DataCite: not found (1)
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