Reflections on the value of autistic participation in a tri‐national teacher‐training project through discourses of acceptance, othering and power

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Wood, R. & Milton, D. (2018). Reflections on the value of autistic participation in a tri‐national teacher‐training project through discourses of acceptance, othering and power. British Journal of Special Education, 45(2), 157-171. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8578.12216

Publication date: 6 Apr 2018 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
2
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 2 (50.0%)
  1. Rebecca Wood
  2. Damian Milton *

Abstract

The Transform Autism Education (TAE) project is a tri‐national teacher training scheme involving Greece, Italy and the UK, whose purpose is to set up training projects to facilitate the educational inclusion of autistic children. Running over three years from 2014 to 2017, the involvement of autistic participants has been the source of some discussion. Here, TAE team members Wood and Milton reflect on narratives of participation, acceptance and struggle which emerged during a workshop they ran in Greece. Derived from 11 non‐autistic and two autistic participants, and analysed via discourse analysis, these stories suggest a high value placed on autistic participation by non‐autistic TAE team members, but an unwitting tendency to ‘other’ autistic people and a lack of awareness of the power differential. Meanwhile, as the autistic team members describe how educational and social participation can be achieved, the implications for autism education researchers and practitioners are discussed.

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These indicators describe the cited bibliography imported for this publication. Cited-reference metrics use the cited-reference total as denominator. Cited-author metrics state whether they use all cited-author occurrences or only occurrences linked to authors already integrated in the AutiHub database. They use cached links between cited authors and authors integrated in the AutiHub database. Last computed: 16 Aug 2026 11:31.

Cited references
41
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
7 / 41 (17.1%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
9 / 50 (18.0%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 9 / 14 (64.3%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 5 / 45 (11.1%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
14 / 50 (28.0%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 9 / 45 (20.0%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
5 / 14 (35.7%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 5 / 50 (10.0%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 4 / 9 (44.4%).
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