What Is at Stake in "Evidence-Based Treatment"? Epistemic Power in Autism Intervention Discourse

• In Event: Whose Truth? Theoretical Considerations for Disability Studies in Education

Abstract

Intervention Discourse

This panel interrogates the ‘truth’ of logic of intervention and challenges the demand for “evidence-based’ treatment and therapy for Autism and other developmental disorders. Disability Studies in Education has been a driving force in challenging the logic of intervention that structures special education and the related Autism services industry. However, the autism intervention industry functions dialectically—requiring one to accept that intervention is a given, and that an intervention being “evidence-based” prevents it from enacting harm on its subjects. This panel challenges both the idea that Autism fundamentally requires intervention and the notion that science and “evidence” are reliable protectors of neurodivergent people.

Authors

• Robin Roscigno, Rutgers University
  Presenting Author

• Sara Jo Soldovieri, Syracuse University
  Presenting Author

• Nikkia D. Borowski, Syracuse University
  Presenting Author