Misfits and ecological saints: strategies for non-normative living in autistic life writing

Abstract

The historical construction of autism since the early 20th century has retained a focus on deficient 'interest in people, severe impairments in communication and bizarre responses to the environment' (DSM III). This means that he or she is represented as narcissistic and a-social rather than 'ecocentric', with an interest in the 'mechanical aspects of the environment'. Life writing by autistics including Chris Packham (2018) and Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay (2008) demonstrates an awareness that human experiences of the non-human world are intra-active and constantly changing (Alaimo 2010). Ironically, autistic writers who describe affinity with non-human nature are seen as having an innate (hence unreflective and naïve, in Schiller's sense) ecocentrism. This downplays the importance of experimental life writing by autistic authors which displays self-awareness and sensitivity to preconceptions about autism. Whether environmental discourse frames autistics as symbols of toxic practices such as vaccination (see Gibbons 2017) or as 'exemplary neurotypes' (Duan et al 2018) enabled by their autism to deliver us from collective environmental threat, this contributes to the silencing of autistic experience. This is particularly the case when we recognize that autistic lives are manifold and involve difficulties that are highly individual. These difficulties are often key to understanding their author's self-stories. This article reads the autobiographical writings of Packham, Greta Thunberg and Mukhopadhyay in terms of intra-action between humans and their environments. It attends to the ways that autistic self-narratives are framed, and how they suggest the 'emergence of alternative strategies of nonnormative living" that include writing itself (Grossman 2019).

Neuro-Abilities and a Good Life

“…Neuro-advancements including neuro/cognitive enhancements can influence and be influenced by the four stages of ability expectations. Ability-related theoretical concepts [32,[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] developed within ability-based studies [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] could be used to discuss and analyze in a systematic fashion the impact of neuro-advancements and human enhancements, which includes neuro/cognitive enhancements on the ability to have a good life, and on neuro-ability expectations contributing to neuroethics, neurotechnology governance and ability expectation governance efforts. Therefore, the fourth aim was to ascertain the use of ability-based theoretical concepts in neurofocused academic literature.…”

“…Human enhancements, neuro/cognitive enhancements and neurotechnologies increasingly enable the modification of existing and the creation of new body/mind abilities. Many ability-related concepts [32,[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] have been generated within the field of ability-based studies [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. The very discussions around human enhancements, neuro/cognitive enhancements and many neurotechnologies are about missing body/mind abilities, old body/mind abilities being seen as obsolete (ability obsolescence [32,47]), and new body/mind abilities being seen as useful.…”

“…One study found that participants believed that different social groups select different abilities as abilities needed for a good life [29], suggesting the possibility of ability-based conflicts between different groups. Ability-based studies [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] have generated many ability-related concepts [32,[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47], which could be used to discuss and analyze in a systematic fashion the impact of neuro-advancements including neuro/cognitive enhancements on the ability narrative and the ability to have a good life contributing to neuroethics, neurotechnology governance and ability expectation governance efforts. Therefore, while searching the abstracts of the academic databases EBSCO-HOST (an umbrella database that includes over 70 other databases itself), Scopus, and Web of Science, the fifth research question was: How often are abilityfocused concepts mentioned in the literature focusing on neurotechnologies and neuro/cognitive-enhancements?…”

Occupational Concepts: An Underutilized Resource to Further Disabled People and Others Being Occupied: A Scoping Review

“…The very discussions around cyborgs, automatization, artificial intelligence and robotic for example are about old abilities needed for a given occupation becoming obsolete (ability obsolescence [172,182]) and new abilities needed for existing occupations and new abilities generating new ways of being occupied. As such, how one thinks about occupations and being occupied is impacted by many ability-based concepts [172] generated in the three strands of ability-based studies, such internalized ableism [183] and internalized disablism [184][185][186][187] and many ability-based concepts [172]. These ability-based concepts can be used to interrogate occupation together with the occupational concepts.…”

“…Various other ability concepts could be used to interrogate why the lack of occupational rights and justice and the reality of occupational apartheid, injustice and deprivation are so pervasive. For example, many disabled people and so-called non-disabled people internalize ableism [183] and disablism [184][185][186][187] and therefore do not even realize that a given reality is based on ability privileges. Many also have internalized disablism so that one does not even flag ability privilege causing ability inequity, an unjust or unfair (a) "distribution of access to and protection from abilities generated through human interventions" or (b) "judgment of abilities intrinsic to biological structures such as the human body" [172].…”