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The Social, Cultural, and Political Discourses of Autism

  • Book
  • © 2021

Overview

Authors:
  1. Jessica Nina Lester

    1. School of Education, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA

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    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Michelle O'Reilly

    1. University of Leicester & Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, Leicester, UK

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    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Strikes a balance between critical perspectives and ‘real life’ challenges of navigating disabling impairments
  • Contributes to the literature psychiatric disability, and questions the psychiatric basis of autism
  • Takes a critical approach to language-in-use, while attending to the social and cultural construction of autism

Part of the book series: Education, Equity, Economy (EEEC, volume 9)

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction to the Social, Cultural, and Political Discourses of Autism

    • Jessica Nina Lester, Michelle O’Reilly
    Pages 1-15

  3. Historical and Social Constructions of Disability

    • Jessica Nina Lester, Michelle O’Reilly
    Pages 17-36

  4. What Is Autism? A Clinical Understanding

    • Jessica Nina Lester, Michelle O’Reilly
    Pages 37-56

  5. The Social, Cultural and Discursive Construction of Autism as a Mental Health Condition and Disability: Different Perspectives

    • Jessica Nina Lester, Michelle O’Reilly
    Pages 57-81

  6. Constructing the Meaning(s) of Autism

    • Jessica Nina Lester, Michelle O’Reilly
    Pages 83-94

  7. Mental Health, Autism, and Issues of Inequality and Resources

    • Jessica Nina Lester, Michelle O’Reilly
    Pages 95-129

  8. Stigma, Disability, and Autism

    • Jessica Nina Lester, Michelle O’Reilly
    Pages 131-152

  9. Summarizing Core Issues

    • Jessica Nina Lester, Michelle O’Reilly
    Pages 153-163

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 165-199
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Keywords

About this book

Taking up a social constructionist position, this book illustrates the social and cultural construction of autism as made visible in everyday, educational, institutional and historical discourses, alongside a careful consideration of the bodily and material realities of embodied differences. The authors highlight the economic consequences of a disabling culture, and explore how autism fits within broader arguments related to normality, abnormality and stigma. To do this, they provide a theoretically and historically grounded discussion of autism—one designed to layer and complicate the discussions that surround autism and disability in schools, health clinics, and society writ large. In addition, they locate this discussion across two contexts – the US and the UK – and draw upon empirical examples to illustrate the key points. Located at the intersection of critical disability studies and discourse studies, the book offers a critical reframing of autism and childhood mental health disorders more generally. 

Authors and Affiliations

  • School of Education, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA

    Jessica Nina Lester

  • University of Leicester & Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, Leicester, UK

    Michelle O'Reilly

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