Affective Intensities and Autistic Misfitting: On Surviving Violence at School

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Relational Becomings: Embracing Diverse Ways of Knowing in Educational Praxis (Table 4)

Abstract

This paper analyzes interviews with 19 autistic individuals in Canada drawn from Project Name, which re-imagines ways of becoming and belonging in schools by affirming difference. We were struck by stories of dehumanizing violence and exclusion and of the reprieve of moments of belonging and care. Through Garland-Thomson’s concept of (mis)fitting and Ahmed’s affect theory, we engage autistic lived experiences in schools to challenge harmful deficit logics and to open avenues for understanding their affects/effects alongside opportunities for transformation. We argue that misfitting and violence in schools materializes through affect—fear, hatred, discomfort—accompanying ableist developmentalist legacies. We consider opportunities to expand possibilities for affirming (neuro)diverse becomings and remaking school in more relational, contextual, and ethical ways.

Authors

• Elizabeth Straus, University of Guelph

• Patty Douglas, Queen's University - Kingston

• Carla Rice, University of Guelph