‘An Association for All’—Notions of the Meaning of Autistic Self‐Advocacy Politics within a Parent‐Dominated Autistic Movement

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Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, H., Brownlow, C., & O’Dell, L. (2014). ‘An Association for All’—Notions of the Meaning of Autistic Self‐Advocacy Politics within a Parent‐Dominated Autistic Movement. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 25(3), 219-231. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2210

Publication date: 7 Oct 2014 Added to AutiHub: 4 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
3
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 3 (33.3%)
  1. Hannah Bertilsdotter Rosqvist *
  2. Charlotte Brownlow
  3. Lindsay O’Dell

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, we seek to explore the tensions between advocacy and self advocacy autistic movements in a Swedish context with a special focus on the meanings that enable the production of particular understandings of autism and the autistic subject. Drawing on articles written for the Swedish advocacy magazine Empowerment written for and by people with autism, the discourse analysis explores two competing discourses: a reformist and a radical. The reformist discourse underlines a goal of (political) representation expressed in Empowerment. It may be understood as an important part of producing a legitimate autistic political subject–positioned as a full member, with a full membership–within a parent‐dominated autistic advocacy movement. The reformist discourse can be viewed as a result of a negotiation, where full membership is conditioned on the parents' terms and granted on specific terms. These include working together (neuro‐inclusively), advocacy based on interest rather than identity/position as a specific target/member group, agreement upon a definition of autism as a disability (a deficit) a person has rather than an identity. In relation to this, an alternative legitimate autistic subject is produced through invoking the counter‐hegemonic radical discourse. Such a narrative produces the ‘Asperger’ or ‘Aspie’. Here, the ‘full membership’ refers to a sense of identification with sense of belonging to and being at home with other people with autism. It contains a certain amount of autistic solidarity within the group of adults with autism. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Bibliography cited by this reference

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Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 01:00.

Cited references
28
With a DOI
17
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
8
2 / 28 (7.1%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
1 / 28 (3.6%)
References with detected author names
27 / 28 (96.4%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
1
Without a stable identifier
6
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
42
From DOI or external metadata
42
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
12 / 42 (28.6%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 30 / 42 (71.4%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
2 / 42 (4.8%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 2 / 12 (16.7%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 2 / 38 (5.3%).
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