An open, collaborative project to document metaphors and analogies concerning autism and autistic people.
Project under development — Launch planned for January 2027.
About the Project
Figuring Autism aims to establish an open documentary database of metaphors and analogies used to describe, explain, or represent autism, autistic people, their experiences, and associated characteristics.
The project examines these expressions across a wide range of contexts, including scientific publications, media, political and institutional discourse, cultural works, personal accounts, advocacy communications, and public discussions. Sources may be written, spoken, or audiovisual, in any language.
The focus is on metaphors and analogies concerning autism and autistic people. Metaphorical uses of the words "autism" or "autistic" to describe unrelated phenomena fall outside the project's scope. Metaphors may be positive, negative, neutral, or subject to differing interpretations.
An Open and Reusable Documentary Database
Figuring Autism aims to develop a structured, freely accessible, and exportable resource that can be reused in various research contexts, particularly in linguistics, discourse analysis, the humanities and social sciences, and autism studies.
Each documented occurrence will be linked to its original excerpt, source, context, and explicit annotations. The identification of metaphors and analogies will be distinguished from their interpretation. Annotations may be discussed, verified, and collectively revised according to documented procedures.
Open data and methodological transparency are central objectives of the project. They are intended to make it possible to examine the evidence underlying analyses, compare annotations, and conduct further research using the collected data, while respecting the rights associated with the original sources.
A Project to Build Together
Figuring Autism is also an invitation to collaborate.
We invite universities, research teams, linguists, specialists in metaphor and discourse analysis, autistic and non-autistic people, and anyone interested in these questions to participate in developing the project.
As the project is still under development, contributions may involve both its scientific and methodological design and the gradual development of its documentary database.
Opportunities for participation include:
- Helping define the project's scope, objectives, and methods.
- Contributing to the development of protocols for identifying and analysing metaphors and analogies.
- Suggesting sources, corpora, or opportunities for scientific collaboration.
- Participating in the submission, data entry, verification, and annotation of occurrences.
- Contributing to the development of tools and features for accessing, exporting, and analysing the data.
Participation is open to people with or without academic expertise. Contributions may be individual or collective, occasional or ongoing, depending on each person's interests and availability.
Get Involved or Express Your Interest
Figuring Autism is scheduled to launch in January 2027, but discussions and proposals for collaboration are welcome now.
Whether you would like to help design the project, contribute to data entry, propose a research collaboration, or simply express your interest, you can contact the AutiHub team via the contact form or the AutiHub Discord server.
Both contact options allow you to express your interest in Figuring Autism, propose a contribution, or participate in discussions about its development.
This preparation phase provides an opportunity to help define the project's methods, tools, and approaches to collaboration.