Autistic identity, culture, community, and space for well-being

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Farahar, C. (2022). Autistic identity, culture, community, and space for well-being. In The Routledge International Handbook of Critical Autism Studies (pp. 229-241). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003056577-23

Publication date: 21 Oct 2022 Added to AutiHub: 9 Aug 2026 Type: Book chapter Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)
  1. Chloe Farahar *

Abstract

In this chapter I discuss and critically consider the importance of identity, culture, community, and space for improving the well-being of the (our) stigmatised and marginalised Autistic population. I will do this by first discussing a tale of two “autisms”: the first being the pathological and paradigmatic narrative that constructs “autism” as a medical neurodevelopmental “disorder” embedded within a “culture of autism”; the second narrative being that of Autistic culture, with Autistic experience understood from a neurodiversity perspective, where Autistic people are different, not disordered. I touch on the well-being issues the Autistic community experience, going on to explain how fostering an Autistic identity can act as a “social cure”, one that affords Autistic people symbolic and material support from community members. Lastly, I consider the refuge and healing properties of Autistic spaces, and how these spaces may prove to be a stronger tool for discovering one’s Autistic-ness as a teen or adult compared to current infantilised medical diagnostic processes. I hope to show the importance of Autistic identity, culture, community, and space for Autistic well-being.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

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 14:05.

Cited references
37
With a DOI
37
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
0
12 / 37 (32.4%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
1 / 37 (2.7%)
References with detected author names
36 / 37 (97.3%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
0
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
104
From DOI or external metadata
104
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
58 / 104 (55.8%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 46 / 104 (44.2%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
19 / 104 (18.3%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 19 / 58 (32.8%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 17 / 94 (18.1%).
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