Difference Versus Disability:Implications of Characterisation of Autism for Education and Support

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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Milton, D. (2019). Difference Versus Disability:Implications of Characterisation of Autism for Education and Support. In The SAGE Handbook of Autism and Education (pp. 3-11). SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526470409.n2 · ISBN : 9781473959538 · Place of publication : 1 Oliver's Yard, 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP 

Publication date: 1 Jan 2019 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Book chapter Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)
  1. Damian Milton *

Abstract

For most of the twentieth century autism was considered to be an extremely rare disorder, affecting a tiny proportion of the population, however in recent decades the numbers of those diagnosed or self-identifying as autistic has risen exponentially, with estimated figures of more than 1 in 100 (Brugha, 2012). Autism has been variously described as everything from an evil spirit that robs parents of their children, to a differing cognitive style, or even a fundamental asset to human evolution. The spectrum of ways in which autistic people can present to educational and clinical practitioners is so myriad, that it may be little wonder that the ‘enigma’ (Frith, 1989) still evades simplistic descriptions, as scientists search in vain for what exactly autism is. Although various attempts have been made to categorise differing subgroups of the autism spectrum, e.g. ‘Asperger Syndrome’, ‘low-functioning autism’, ‘atypical autism’; it is highly questionable as to how accurately such distinctions can be made and how useful they are in practice.

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: 3 Oct 2026 01:00.

Cited references
34
With a DOI
18
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
0
9 / 34 (26.5%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
3 / 34 (8.8%)
References with detected author names
31 / 34 (91.2%)
Without detected author names
3
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
1
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
56
From DOI or external metadata
56
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
17 / 56 (30.4%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 39 / 56 (69.6%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
11 / 56 (19.6%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 11 / 17 (64.7%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 5 / 50 (10.0%).
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    OpenAlex
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    OpenAlex
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    OpenAlex
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  29. Wenn Lawson * (2011). The Passionate Mind: How People with Autism Learn .
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