Inside Out: Autistic Psychologists on the Power Structures of Diagnosis

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. two authors of this publication are identified as autistic in the project.

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Scaer, A. J. & Dabbs, C. R. (2025). Inside Out: Autistic Psychologists on the Power Structures of Diagnosis. Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.9707/2833-1508.1210

Publication date: 6 Jun 2025 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
2
Publication authors identified as autistic
2 / 2 (100.0%)
  1. Audrey J. Scaer *
  2. Christopher R. Dabbs *

Abstract

How do relationships between medicalized diagnostic powers and training intersect with the complex social identity of autism? How does self-identification (self-diagnosis) challenge the diagnostic status quo, created and scaffolded by enormously powerful social systems? In this paper, we reflect on the historical and modern dynamics of these power relations. As autistic psychologists actively working with and diagnosing autistic clients, we end this paper with an autoethnographic interrogation of our own self-diagnostic journeys and ways in which we’ve integrated our identities across personal and professional spheres of functioning.

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 01:39.

Cited references
39
With a DOI
35
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
0
14 / 39 (35.9%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
0 / 39 (0.0%)
References with detected author names
39 / 39 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
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
187
From DOI or external metadata
187
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
125 / 187 (66.8%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 62 / 187 (33.2%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
59 / 187 (31.6%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 59 / 125 (47.2%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 45 / 165 (27.3%).
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