Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T09:19:01.824Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

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

By
M. Ariel Cascio
Edited by
Laurence J. Kirmayer ,
Carol M. Worthman ,
Shinobu Kitayama ,
Robert Lemelson  and
Constance A. Cummings
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
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

bioethicsneuroethicsautismneurodiversitycross-cultural researchrespectjustice
Type
Chapter
Information
Culture, Mind, and Brain
Emerging Concepts, Models, and Applications
 , pp. 477 - 493
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.)

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.ctt13x07p9.20Google Scholar
Bagatell, N. (2007). Orchestrating voices: Autism, identity and the power of discourse. Disability & Society, 22(4), 413–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687590701337967Google 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.xCrossRefGoogle 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/s11019-011-9339-7Google 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.12202Google 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/10.1352/1934-9556-50.2.120Google 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.xGoogle 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/10.1352/1934-9556-50.3.273CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
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:102221Google 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_3CrossRefGoogle 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.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chamak, B. (2009). Autisme et militantisme: De la maladie à la différence. Quaderni, 68, 61–70. https://doi.org/10.4000/quaderni.268Google 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.2010.02.001Google 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/9780816688883.003.0011Google 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.pdfGoogle 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/25605579Google 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/10.1080/14649360903525240CrossRefGoogle 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)0000013006Google 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.pdfGoogle Scholar
Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic injustice: Power & the ethics of knowing. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198237907.001.0001CrossRefGoogle 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.21Google Scholar
Grace, I. (2013). NeuroQueer. http://neuroqueer.blogspot.comGoogle 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/9780198524021.003.0012Google 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-peopleGoogle 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.2008.0329Google 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.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hacking, I. (2009c). Humans, aliens, & autism. Daedalus, 138(3), 44–59. https://doi.org/10.1162/daed.2009.138.3.44Google 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.79.2.632Google 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.2014.20Google Scholar
Hens, K., Robeyns, I., & Schaubroeck, K. (2019). The ethics of autism. Philosophy Compass, 14(1), e12559. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12559Google Scholar
Hughes, B. (2009). Disability activisms: Social model stalwarts and biological citizens. Disability & Society, 24(6), 677–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687590903160118Google 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/10.1080/23294515.2017.1402833Google 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/a0028353Google 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/1065/1254Google 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.1081Google 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/9780816688883.003.0001Google Scholar
Ortega, F. (2009). The cerebral subject and the challenge of neurodiversity. BioSocieties, 4(4), 425–45. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1745855209990287Google 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/10.1177/1362361314529627Google 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.xGoogle 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.2018.01.024Google 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/s11013-015-9448-5Google 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-2016-103595Google Scholar
Rose, N. (2003). Neurochemical selves. Society, 41(1), 46–59. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02688204Google 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.2017.12.008Google 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.2018.54Google Scholar
Vidal, F. (2009). Brainhood, anthropological figure of modernity. History of the Human Sciences, 22(1), 5–36. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0952695108099133CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vidal, F., & Ortega, F. (2017). Being brains: Making the cerebral subject. Fordham University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1xhr6bnGoogle Scholar
Walker, N. (2015, May 4). Neuroqueer: An introduction [Blog post]. http://neuroqueer.blogspot.com/2015/05/neuroqueer-introduction-by-nick-walker.htmlGoogle 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/10.1080/09687599.2015.1090954Google Scholar
Yergeau, M. (2018). Authoring autism: On rhetoric and neurological queerness. Duke University Press.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×