Naming Adult Autism: Culture, Science, Identity

ISBN-13: 9781783480401 / Angielski / Twarda / 2017 / 272 str.

Dr James McGrath

Opis

Autism is a social disorder, defined according to an individual s interactions and lifestyle. However, medical literature rarely questions the silent ideas of social normalcy against which autistic traits are defined. The Naming of Adult Autism demonstrates the value of Cultural Studies towards developing a fuller understanding of high-functioning autism and Asperger s Syndrome as conditions affecting adults. Associations of autistic talent with scientific aptitude have emerged at the expense of recognition that many autistic individuals succeed in the Humanities. Adapting cultural theory from Beauvoir, Foucault, Said and Butler to illuminate the wider implications of the conceptualization of autism, this study considers identity politics involved with diagnosis and self-diagnosis. In doing so it addresses labeling, performativity, and the reclamation of key signifiers in discourses of autism."