Affective intensities and autistic misfitting: on surviving violence at school

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Straus, E., Douglas, P., & Rice, C. (2025). Affective intensities and autistic misfitting: on surviving violence at school. Critical Studies in Education, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2025.2608091

Publication date: 28 Dec 2025 Added to AutiHub: 6 Aug 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
3
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 3 (33.3%)
  1. Elizabeth Straus *
  2. Patty Douglas
  3. Carla Rice

Abstract

This paper analyses 19 autistic individuals’ stories of school experiences in Canada drawn from the Re•Storying Autism project, which aims to challenge dominant deficit logics of autism and re-story ways of becoming and belonging in schools. In our analysis, we were struck by ubiquitous stories of relentless, dehumanizing violence and by occasional moments of belonging and care. Through the feminist materialist ontology and metaphor of (mis)fitting and feminist affect theory, we engage discursive, material, and affective dimensions of autistic school experiences of violence and belonging to challenge harmful deficit logics circulating therein and open avenues for understanding affects/effects alongside pathways for transformation. We argue that misfitting and violence in schools materializes through assemblages produced, in part, via a constellation of affects – fear, hatred, discomfort – accompanying ableist developmentalist legacies still structuring formal education systems. Our approach intervenes into feminist neomaterialist and critical autism studies, which have yet to grapple with autism and school violence. Based on this analysis combined with stories of relational and creative responses to misfitting, we consider opportunities for transgression and advocacy that can expand possibilities for affirming (neuro)diverse becomings and for remaking school practices and spaces in more relational, contextual, and ethical ways.

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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
55
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
4 / 55 (7.3%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
7 / 123 (5.7%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 7 / 31 (22.6%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 6 / 112 (5.4%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
31 / 123 (25.2%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 22 / 112 (19.6%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
24 / 31 (77.4%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 24 / 123 (19.5%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 16 / 22 (72.7%).
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