Autistic Social Entrepreneurship and Systems Thinking: A Neurodiversity-Affirming Approach

Zivkovic, S. (2024). Autistic Social Entrepreneurship and Systems Thinking: A Neurodiversity-Affirming Approach. In Neurodiversity and Entrepreneurship (pp. 135-150). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83753-798-320241007

Publication date: 26 Nov 2024 Added to AutiHub: 6 Aug 2026 Type: Book chapter Article language: English

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Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)

Abstract

Abstract The term neurodiversity is used to discuss human neurological variation, differences in human cognition, and a social movement that aims to change the way that society views and responds to people who are neurodivergent. While the cognitive differences associated with autism are often discussed in terms of deficits, in recent years autistic autism researchers have been reframing autistic cognition from a neurodiversity-affirming lens that illuminates autistic strengths. Based on characteristics of autistic cognition from a neurodiversity-affirming perspective, this chapter describes neurodiversity-affirming autistic social entrepreneurship and systems thinking approaches and argues that all autistic-owned and -led businesses that align with the mission of the neurodiversity movement are by definition social enterprises. It is hoped that this chapter will assist in reframing autistic cognition from its current deficit conception and encourage the development of business support services that are more appropriate for autistic social entrepreneurs.

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Bibliography inclusion overview

These indicators describe the cited bibliography imported for this publication. Cited-reference metrics use the cited-reference total as denominator. Cited-author metrics state whether they use all cited-author occurrences or only occurrences linked to authors already integrated in the AutiHub database. They use cached links between cited authors and authors integrated in the AutiHub database. Last computed: 16 Aug 2026 11:31.

Cited references
84
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
9 / 84 (10.7%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
23 / 149 (15.4%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 23 / 62 (37.1%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 18 / 134 (13.4%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
62 / 149 (41.6%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 51 / 134 (38.1%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
39 / 62 (62.9%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 39 / 149 (26.2%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 33 / 51 (64.7%).
3 cited bibliography entries could not be fully enriched from DOI metadata.
Crossref: not found (2) · DataCite: not found (1)
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