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Autism Entangled – Controversies Over Disability, Sexuality, and Gender in Contemporary Culture

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Autism Entangled – Controversies Over Disability, Sexuality, and Gender in Contemporary Culture Autism Entangled – Controversies over Disability, Sexuality, and Gender in Contemporary Culture Toby Atkinson BA, MA This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Sociology Department, Lancaster University February 2021 1 Declaration I declare that this thesis is my own work and has not been submitted in substantially the same form for the award of a higher degree elsewhere. Furthermore, I declare that the word count of this thesis, 76940 words, does not exceed the permitted maximum. Toby Atkinson February 2021 2 Acknowledgements I want to thank my supervisors Hannah Morgan, Vicky Singleton, and Adrian Mackenzie for the invaluable support they offered throughout the writing of this thesis. I am grateful as well to Celia Roberts and Debra Ferreday for reading earlier drafts of material featured in several chapters. The research was made possible by financial support from Lancaster University and the Economic and Social Research Council. I also want to thank the countless friends, colleagues, and family members who have supported me during the research process over the last four years. 3 Contents DECLARATION ......................................................................................... 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................. 3 ABSTRACT .............................................................................................. 9 PART ONE: ......................................................................................... 11 Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................ 12 Introductory Remarks ....................................................................................................... 12 Autism ............................................................................................................................... 12 Historical and Sociological Study ...................................................................................... 15 Autism, Gender, and Sexuality ......................................................................................... 17 Research Focus ................................................................................................................. 18 Research Approach ........................................................................................................... 20 Chapter Outline ................................................................................................................ 29 Chapter 2: In Theory ..................................................................................... 35 Introductory Remarks ....................................................................................................... 35 Disability Studies ............................................................................................................... 36 The Social Model .............................................................................................................. 37 Issues with Impairments ................................................................................................... 40 The Social Relational Model ............................................................................................. 42 4 Disablism and Ableism ...................................................................................................... 44 Internalised Ableism and Psycho-emotional Disablement .............................................. 45 Relevance of Disability Studies to Autism ........................................................................ 46 Feminist Anti-essentialism and Intersectionality ............................................................. 50 Feminist Theory In Relation to Autism ............................................................................. 53 Queer Theory .................................................................................................................... 56 Queer Theory’s Relevance to Studying Autism ................................................................ 59 Theoretical Syntheses-Gender, Sexuality and Disability .................................................. 60 Gender and Disability ....................................................................................................... 61 Queer and Crip .................................................................................................................. 62 Entanglements of Disability, Sexuality, and Gender Applied to Autism .......................... 67 Concluding Remarks ......................................................................................................... 71 Chapter 3: What Is Autism? .......................................................................... 72 Autism-From Diagnosis to Critique .................................................................................. 72 From Schizophrenia To Autism-Early 20th Century .......................................................... 74 Parental Problems-Mid 20th Century ................................................................................ 74 Observations on the First Autism and Its Legacies ........................................................... 77 New Paths-Late 20th Century ............................................................................................ 79 Mindblindness and the Extreme Male Brain-21st Century Autism ................................... 80 Neurodiversity-A New Paradigm ...................................................................................... 83 5 History of a Term, History of a Movement ....................................................................... 84 Mourning .......................................................................................................................... 86 Neurodiversity Groups ..................................................................................................... 87 Mindblindness and Double Empathy ............................................................................... 88 Neuroqueer ...................................................................................................................... 89 What is Autism To Me? .................................................................................................... 90 Relevance of Gender and Sexuality .................................................................................. 94 Concluding Remarks ......................................................................................................... 96 PART TWO: ........................................................................................ 98 Chapter 4: Autism Within and Against Self-Help Literature .......................... 99 Introductory Remarks ....................................................................................................... 99 Selection of Texts ............................................................................................................ 101 Autism as Enigma............................................................................................................ 104 Self-Help Resources ........................................................................................................ 111 Autism as Myth ............................................................................................................... 126 Concluding Remarks ....................................................................................................... 133 Chapter 5: Atypical Autism ......................................................................... 135 Introductory Remarks ..................................................................................................... 135 Savants and Geeks .......................................................................................................... 138 Geek Gender and Race ................................................................................................... 141 6 Spock Sexuality ............................................................................................................... 142 A Premise With Problems ............................................................................................... 144 Atypical Heterosexuality ................................................................................................. 146 Critical Atypical ............................................................................................................... 149 Persistent Pathologisation .............................................................................................. 151 Performing Heterosexuality, Queering Atypical............................................................. 153 Sam as Geek .................................................................................................................... 156 Concluding Remarks ....................................................................................................... 159 Chapter 6: (Autistic) Childhood and Its (Gendered) Discontents ................. 163 Introductory Remarks ..................................................................................................... 163 Autism and Childhood .................................................................................................... 165 Autism and the Transgender Tipping Point ...................................................................
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