Critical autism studies (CAS) is an interdisciplinary research field within autism studies led by autistic people. This field is related to both disability studies and neurodiversity studies.
CAS as a discipline is led by autistic academics, and many autistic people engage with the discipline in nonacademic spaces. The point of this field's existence is to give power to the voices of autistic people in autism research, but there is critique of the field for failing to represent the depth of how intersectionality affects autistic people. The field of critical autism studies was created for the purpose of creating a better life for autistic individuals through the challenging of the medical model of disability, ableism against autistic individuals, and harmful stereotypes about autism. Many CAS scholars are from fields in the social sciences and humanities.
The primary components of this field of research are how autism as a label is impacted by power relations between autistic and non-autistic scholars, challenges against the medical model of disability and deficit narratives in relation to autism, and how autism as an identity is highly individualized. Two other components that have been proposed but have not been widely accepted within CAS are whether autism diagnoses are valid given the way that autism as a label has been created by non-autistic people and what the value of an autism diagnosis is.
History
- Key themes of CAS as a field can be traced back to Jim Sinclair in 1993.
- CAS as we know it now originates from a workshop by Joyce Davidson and Michael Orsini in 2011.
- Larry Arnold released the first journal for CAS in 2012.
- The first book on the theoretical work of CAS was published in 2016.
Theoretical works
- Autonomy: The Critical Journal of Interdisciplinary Autism Studies emerged as the first CAS journal in 2012. It ran from 2012 to 2019.
- Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture emerged as a CAS journal in 2019. It is still running.One of the editors of this journal, Robert Rozema, says that the journal is a space for dialogue about the field and that CAS as a field should include creative works from autistic individuals.
- War on Autism: On the Cultural Logic of Normative Violence is a book on the theoretical work of CAS. It was published in 2016.
- Authoring Autism: On Rhetoric and Neurological Queerness is a book on the theoretical work of CAS. It was published in 2018.
- All the Weight of Our Dreams: On Living Racialized Autism is a book on the theoretical work of CAS. It was published in 2017.
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