Narrating Autism Online: Centering Autistic Experience and Expertise

• In Event: Centering Autistic Experiences and Expertise for Educational Transformation

Abstract

Too often, the experience of disability has been narrated and mediated by the non-disabled. Online platforms have created space for autistic individuals that type to communicate to participate in the discourse community to share perspectives, comment on schooling experiences, and provide guidance -- narrating their own experience of autism. For the purpose of this consideration of discursive and ideological trends, we analyze blogs written by autistic individuals that type to communicate. What can analyzing online materials by autistic typers teach us about their experiences? What are the common discourses and how do they connect with other theoretical frameworks? And what are implications for a reimagined inclusive education that seeks not to reify ableism, but create space for neurodivergent communicators?

Authors

• Christine Elaine Ashby, Syracuse University

• Nikkia D. Borowski, Syracuse University