Autism, Inc.: The Autism Industrial Complex

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Broderick, A. A. & Roscigno, R. (2021). Autism, Inc.: The Autism Industrial Complex. Journal of Disability Studies in Education, 2(1), 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1163/25888803-bja10008

Publication date: 29 Jan 2021 Added to AutiHub: 23 Aug 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
2
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 2 (50.0%)
  1. Alicia A. Broderick
  2. Robin Roscigno *

Abstract

Abstract We contend that, within capitalism, the Autism Industrial Complex (aic ) produces both autism as commodity and the normative cultural logic of intervention in relation to it. Comprised of ideological/rhetorical as well as material/economic infrastructure, we argue that the aic is not the myriad businesses and industries that capitalize and profit from it; rather, these constitute its epiphenomenal features. In the production of autism as commodity, the aic also simultaneously produces that commodity’s market, its consumers, and its own monopoly control of that market through production for consumption of need for, consent to, and legitimacy of interventionist logics. Within this apparatus, almost anyone can capitalize on and profit from autism. And within the aic, autistic people—their very bodies—function as the raw materials from which this industrial complex is built, even as autistic people—their very identities and selves—also become unwitting, and often unwilling, products of the aic.

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: 23 Aug 2026 18:25.

Cited references
68
With a DOI
37
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
31
7 / 68 (10.3%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
6 / 68 (8.8%)
References with detected author names
62 / 68 (91.2%)
Without detected author names
6
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
24
References with raw author names still to review
3
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
143
From DOI or external metadata
143
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
5
24 / 143 (16.8%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 119 / 143 (83.2%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
7 / 143 (4.9%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 7 / 24 (29.2%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 4 / 118 (3.4%).
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