Post published on Twitter/X on 1 Nov 2021 03:18

Abstract

This chapter will consider identity in relation to the diagnostic category of autism. The heterogeneity of individuals who are diagnosed as autistic represents a key challenge for identity analysts and, more importantly, for the people affected – in terms of societal images of autism and what the label may mean to others. The chapter will introduce situated approaches to identity; without being tied to a specific method, a situated approach implies understanding (a) the conditions that make identity become relevant for those involved, and (b) what the identity affordances for participants are. Firstly, identity is played out in every interactional exchange, as membership is displayed and reaffirmed by social actors; however, membership in ethno-methodological terms is no straightforward achievement for someone who does not experience a satisfactory control on ordinary social practices, as may happen with autism. The chapter will thus cover insights about autism identity generated by interactional research. Secondly, it will discuss cultural processes as interdependent with this level of analysis. To some extents, autism studies went through a revolution similar to the postcolonial one, in which minorities, after having been object of outsiders’ descriptions for a long time, began speaking out for themselves and their communities. The end of the chapter, I will touch upon the specificity of the autistic spectrum condition as being at a boundary between medical condition and disability, and what the consequences are in terms of identity and social positions.