Decolonising Understandings of Autism: Takiwātanga and Intercultural Dialogue in Aotearoa New Zealand

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Newcombe, N., Thomas, T., Tawa, M., & Amundsen, D. (2026). Decolonising Understandings of Autism: Takiwātanga and Intercultural Dialogue in Aotearoa New Zealand. Neurodiversity, 4. https://doi.org/10.1177/27546330261488680

Publication date: 1 Sep 2026 Added to AutiHub: 16 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
4
Publication authors identified as autistic
2 / 4 (50.0%)
  1. Nicolina Newcombe *
  2. Tania Thomas
  3. Maioha Tawa *
  4. Diana Amundsen

Abstract

This study examines takiwātanga, a te reo Māori word meaning ‘in my/his/her[/their] own time and space’, as a decolonising framework for understanding autism. Unlike the deficit-based diagnostic category of autism spectrum disorder, takiwātanga emerges from relational, spiritual and ancestral Māori worldviews that position neurodivergence as a natural and valued mode of being. Despite growing use since its coinage in 2017, little scholarly work has examined the concept of takiwātanga itself. Through an intercultural dialogue between an autistic Pākehā and a Māori whaitakiwātanga kore (non-autistic), with meaning-making support from a Māori takiwātanga and a non-autistic Pākehā, the authors explore how Māori ontologies resist and reframe disability and investigate how takiwātanga operates as a decolonising framework rather than a linguistic alternative to autism. Following a review of a speech delivered by the first author at Neurodiversity Pride Week, the authors engaged in polyvocal dialogic enquiry, becoming participants who analyse and question the socio-cultural contexts of their own experiences. Five themes were constructed, offering a culturally plural contribution to the critical turn in neurodiversity studies, and presenting takiwātanga as a transformative counter-narrative to colonised ableism in Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond.

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: 20 Sep 2026 01:01.

Cited references
42
With a DOI
16
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
26
4 / 42 (9.5%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
16 / 42 (38.1%)
References with detected author names
26 / 42 (61.9%)
Without detected author names
16
Without a structured title
16
Without a stable identifier
26
References with raw author names still to review
16
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
72
From DOI or external metadata
72
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
17
40 / 72 (55.6%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 32 / 72 (44.4%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
13 / 72 (18.1%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 13 / 40 (32.5%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 11 / 61 (18.0%).
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