Neurodiversity as a Conceptual Lens and Topic of Cross-Cultural Study

doi:10.1017/9781108695374.027

21 - Neurodiversity as a Conceptual Lens and Topic of Cross-Cultural Study

from Part II - Applications

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2020

M. Ariel Cascio

Edited by

Laurence J. Kirmayer ,

Carol M. Worthman ,

Shinobu Kitayama ,

Robert Lemelson and

Constance A. Cummings

Show author details

Laurence J. Kirmayer: Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
Carol M. Worthman: Affiliation:
Emory University, Atlanta
Shinobu Kitayama: Affiliation:
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Robert Lemelson: Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
Constance A. Cummings: Affiliation:
The Foundation for Psychocultural Research

Book contents

Get access

Summary

The neurodiversity movement argues that certain diagnoses implicating the brain, most notably autism, do not reflect neurological disorders but rather neurological diversity. Neurodiversity movements lie at the intersection of culture, mind, and brain as mind/brain discourses are taken up as cultural practice used in individual and collective identity formation as well as social and political action. Neurodiversity perspectives intersect with important considerations in bioethics, particularly around questions of respect and justice for autistic people. This chapter describes neurodiversity and related concepts, discusses the way neurodiversity can inform bioethics as a conceptual lens, and summarizes cross-cultural research on neurodiversity movements that can help address neurodiversity-informed bioethics questions. It concludes with proposed directions for future research.

Keywords

bioethics neuroethics autism neurodiversity cross-cultural research respect justice

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Culture, Mind, and Brain
Emerging Concepts, Models, and Applications
, pp. 477 - 493

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108695374.027 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Antze, P. (2010). On the pragmatics of empathy in the neurodiversity movement. In Lambek, M. (Ed.), Ordinary ethics: Anthropology, language, and action (pp. 310–27). Fordham University Press. www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt13x07p9.20 Google Scholar

Bagatell, N. (2007). Orchestrating voices: Autism, identity and the power of discourse. Disability & Society, 22(4), 413–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687590701337967 Google Scholar

Bagatell, N. (2010). From cure to community: Transforming notions of autism. Ethos, 38(1), 33–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1352.2009.01080.x CrossRef Google Scholar

Baggs, M. (2016, November 1). Reviving the concept of cousins [Blog post]. https://ballastexistenz.wordpress.com/2016/11/01/cousins/Google Scholar

Barnes, R. E., & McCabe, H. (2012). Should we welcome a cure for autism? A survey of the arguments. Medicine Health Care and Philosophy, 15(3), 255–69. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-011-9339-7 Google Scholar

Belek, B. (2018). Autism and the proficiency of social ineptitude: Probing the rules of “appropriate” behavior. Ethos, 46(2), 161–79. https://doi.org/10.1111/etho.12202 Google Scholar

Bertilsdotter-Rosqvist, H. (2012). Normal for an Asperger: Notions of the meanings of diagnoses among adults with Asperger syndrome. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 50(2), 120–8. https://doi.org/10.1352/1934-9556-50.2.120 Google Scholar

Brown, P., Zavestoski, S., McCormick, S., Mayer, B., Morello-Frosch, R., & Altman, R. G. (2004). Embodied health movements: New approaches to social movements in health. Sociology of Health & Illness, 26(1), 50–80. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2004.00378.x Google Scholar

Cascio, M. A. (2012). Neurodiversity: Autism pride among mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 50(3), 273–83. https://doi.org/10.1352/1934-9556-50.3.273 CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Cascio, M. A. (2015). Biopolitics and subjectivity: The case of autism spectrum conditions in Italy [Doctoral dissertation]. Case Western Reserve University. https://etd.ohiolink.edu/pg_10?::NO:10:P10_ETD_SUBID:102221 Google Scholar

Cascio, M. A., Andrada, B. C., & Bezerra, B. (2018). Psychiatric reform and autism services in Italy and Brazil. In Fein, E. & Rios, C. (Eds.), Autism in translation: An intercultural conversation on autism spectrum conditions (pp. 53–87). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93293-4_3 CrossRef Google Scholar

Chamak, B. (2008). Autism and social movements: French parents’ associations and international autistic individuals’ organisations. Sociology of Health and Illness, 30(1), 76–96. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2007.01053.x CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Chamak, B. (2009). Autisme et militantisme: De la maladie à la différence. Quaderni, 68, 61–70. https://doi.org/10.4000/quaderni.268 Google Scholar

Chamak, B. (2010). Autisme, handicap et mouvements sociaux. ALTER-European Journal of Disability Research/Revue Européenne de Recherche sur le Handicap, 4(2), 103–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alter.2010.02.001 Google Scholar

Chamak, B., & Bonniau, B. (2013). Autism and social movements in France: A comparative perspective. In Davidson, J. & Orsini, M. (Eds.), Worlds of autism: Across the spectrum of neurological difference (pp. 239–57). University of Minnesota Press. https://doi.org/10.5749/minnesota/9780816688883.003.0011 Google Scholar

Chamak, B., & Bonniau, B. (2014). Neurodiversité: Une autre façon de penser. In Chamak, B. & Moutaud, B. (Eds.), Neurosciences et société: Enjeux des savoirs et pratiques sur le cerveau (pp. 211–30). Armand Colin.Google Scholar

Cola, M. (2012). Ragionevolmente differenti: Una riflessione antropologica su sindrome di Asperger e disturbo dello spettro autistico. I libri di Emil.Google Scholar

Cola, M., & Crocetti, D. (2011). Negotiating normality: Experiences from three Italian patient support groups. Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers, 99(1), 214–36. https://kas.berkeley.edu/documents/Issue_99-100/15-Negotiating.pdf Google Scholar

Coombe, R. J. (1990). Barren ground: Re-conceiving honour and shame in the field of Mediterranean ethnography. Anthropologica, 32(2), 221–38. www.jstor.org/stable/25605579 Google Scholar

Davidson, J., & Henderson, V. L. (2010). ‘Coming out’ on the spectrum: Autism, identity and disclosure. Social & Cultural Geography, 11(2), 155–70. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649360903525240 CrossRef Google Scholar

Fein, E. (2011). Innocent machines: Asperger’s syndrome and the neurostructural self. In Pickersgill, M. & Van Keulen, I. (Eds.), Sociological reflections on the neurosciences (pp. 27–49). Emerald Group Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1057-6290(2011)0000013006 Google Scholar

Fenton, A., & Krahn, T. (2007). Autism, neurodiversity, and equality beyond the ‘normal’. Journal of Ethics in Mental Health, 2(2), 1–6. https://jemh.ca/issues/v2n2/documents/JEMH_V2N2_Theme_Article2_Neurodiversity_Autism.pdf Google Scholar

Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic injustice: Power & the ethics of knowing. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198237907.001.0001 CrossRef Google Scholar

Graby, S. (2015). Neurodiversity: Bridging the gap between the disabled people’s movement and the mental health system survivors’ movement? In Spandler, H., Anderson, J., & Sapey, B. (Eds.), Madness, distress and the politics of disablement (pp. 231–44). Bristol University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1t898sg.21 Google Scholar

Grace, I. (2013). NeuroQueer. http://neuroqueer.blogspot.com Google Scholar

Hacking, I. (1995). The looping effects of human kinds. In Sperber, D., Premack, D., & Premack, A. J. (Eds.), Symposia of the Fyssen Foundation. Causal cognition: A multidisciplinary debate (pp. 351–94). Clarendon Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198524021.003.0012 Google Scholar

Hacking, I. (2006). Making up people. London Review of Books, 28(16), 23–6. www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n16/ian-hacking/making-up-people Google Scholar

Hacking, I. (2009a). Autistic autobiography. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1522), 1467–73. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2008.0329 Google Scholar

Hacking, I. (2009b). How we have been learning to talk about autism: A role for stories. Metaphilosophy, 40(3–4), 499–516. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9973.2009.01607.x CrossRef Google Scholar

Hacking, I. (2009c). Humans, aliens, & autism. Daedalus, 138(3), 44–59. https://doi.org/10.1162/daed.2009.138.3.44 Google Scholar

Hacking, I. (2010). Autism fiction: A mirror of an internet decade? University of Toronto Quarterly, 79(2), 632–55. https://doi.org/10.3138/utq.79.2.632 Google Scholar

Hart, B. (2014). Autism parents & neurodiversity: Radical translation, joint embodiment and the prosthetic environment. BioSocieties, 9(3), 284–303. https://doi.org/10.1057/biosoc.2014.20 Google Scholar

Hens, K., Robeyns, I., & Schaubroeck, K. (2019). The ethics of autism. Philosophy Compass, 14(1), e12559. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12559 Google Scholar

Hughes, B. (2009). Disability activisms: Social model stalwarts and biological citizens. Disability & Society, 24(6), 677–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687590903160118 Google Scholar

Jongsma, K., Spaeth, E., & Schicktanz, S. (2017). Epistemic injustice in dementia and autism patient organizations: An empirical analysis. AJOB Empirical Bioethics, 8(4), 221–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/23294515.2017.1402833 Google Scholar

Kapp, S. K., Gillespie-Lynch, K., Sherman, L. E., & Hutman, T. (2013). Deficit, difference, or both? Autism and neurodiversity. Developmental Psychology, 49(1), 59–71. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028353 Google Scholar

Kras, J. F. (2010). The “ransom notes” affair: When the neurodiversity movement came of age. Disability Studies Quarterly, 30(1). www.dsq-sds.org/article/view/1065/1254 Google Scholar

Lock, M., & Kaufert, P. (2001). Menopause, local biologies, and cultures of aging. American Journal of Human Biology, 13(4), 494–504. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.1081 Google Scholar

Orsini, M. (2009). Contesting the autistic subject: Biological citizenship and the autism/autistic movement. In Murray, S. J. & Holmes, D. (Eds.), Critical interventions in the ethics of healthcare: Challenging the principle of autonomy in bioethics (pp. 115–30). Ashgate Publishing Company.Google Scholar

Orsini, M., & Davidson, J. (2013). Critical autism studies: Notes on an emerging field. In Davidson, J. & Orsini, M. (Eds.), Worlds of autism: Across the spectrum of neurological difference (pp. 1–28). University of Minnesota Press. https://doi.org/10.5749/minnesota/9780816688883.003.0001 Google Scholar

Ortega, F. (2009). The cerebral subject and the challenge of neurodiversity. BioSocieties, 4(4), 425–45. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1745855209990287 Google Scholar

Pellicano, E., Dinsmore, A., & Charman, T. (2014). What should autism research focus upon? Community views and priorities from the United Kingdom. Autism, 18(7), 756–70. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361314529627 Google Scholar

Perry, A. (2012). Autism beyond pediatrics: Why bioethicists ought to rethink consent in light of chronicity and genetic identity. Bioethics, 26(5), 236–41. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8519.2011.01952.x Google Scholar

Raz, A., Jongsma, K. R., Rimon-Zarfaty, N., Späth, E., Bar-Nadav, B., Vaintropov, E., & Schicktanz, S. (2018). Representing autism: Challenges of collective representation in German and Israeli associations for and of autistic people. Social Science & Medicine, 200, 65–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.01.024 Google Scholar

Rios, C., & Andrada, B. C. (2015). The changing face of autism in Brazil. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 39(2), 213–34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11013-015-9448-5 Google Scholar

Rodogno, R., Krause-Jensen, K., & Ashcroft, R. E. (2016). ‘Autism and the good life’: A new approach to the study of well-being. Journal of Medical Ethics, 42(6), 401–8. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2016-103595 Google Scholar

Rose, N. (2003). Neurochemical selves. Society, 41(1), 46–59. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02688204 Google Scholar

Silberman, S. (2016). NeuroTribes: The legacy of autism and the future of neurodiversity: Penguin Publishing Group.Google Scholar

Silverman, C. (2011). Understanding autism: Parents, doctors, and the history of a disorder. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar

Sparrow, M. (2016, October 26). ABA [Blog post]. http://unstrangemind.com/aba/Google Scholar

Tan, C. D. (2018). “I’m a normal autistic person, not an abnormal neurotypical”: Autism spectrum disorder diagnosis as biographical illumination. Social Science & Medicine, 197, 161–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.12.008 Google Scholar

van den Bosch, K. E., Krzeminska, A., Song, E. Y., van Hal, L. B. E., Waltz, M. M., Ebben, H., & Schippers, A. P. (2018). Nothing about us, without us: A case study of a consumer-run organization by and for people on the autism spectrum in the Netherlands. Journal of Management & Organization, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2018.54 Google Scholar

Vidal, F. (2009). Brainhood, anthropological figure of modernity. History of the Human Sciences, 22(1), 5–36. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0952695108099133 CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Vidal, F., & Ortega, F. (2017). Being brains: Making the cerebral subject. Fordham University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1xhr6bn Google Scholar

Walker, N. (2015, May 4). Neuroqueer: An introduction [Blog post]. http://neuroqueer.blogspot.com/2015/05/neuroqueer-introduction-by-nick-walker.html Google Scholar

Waltz, M. (2003, July). Metaphors of autism, and autism as metaphor: An exploration of representation [Paper presentation]. Inter-Disciplinary.net Second Global Conference – Making Sense of: Health, Illness and Disease, Mansfield College, Oxford, England.Google Scholar

Waltz, M., van den Bosch, K., Ebben, H., van Hal, L., & Schippers, A. (2015). Autism self-advocacy in the Netherlands: Past, present and future. Disability & Society, 30(8), 1174–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2015.1090954 Google Scholar

Yergeau, M. (2018). Authoring autism: On rhetoric and neurological queerness. Duke University Press.Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility compliance for the HTML of this chapter is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.