Open Society

*Not all white people. Some exclusions apply. Void where caucasity prohibited.

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Background: There is widespread debate about the language used to describe autistic people; many professionals prefer person-first language (e.g., “person with autism”), and many autistic people prefer identity-first language (e.g., “autistic person”). Although prior surveys of the autism community’s terminology preferences have reported participants’ evaluations of individual terms, limited research has directly compared evaluations of discrete categories of identity- and person-first terms. Additionally, there is a need to more fully understand participants’ evaluations of terms relevant to autistic people outside of the identity- and person-first debate. Methods: In total, 784 North American adults (Nautistic = 611; 78%) evaluated two identity-first terms (“autistic” and “autistic person”) and five person-first terms (“person with autism,” “person with autism spectrum disorder,” “person with autism spectrum condition,” “person on the autism spectrum,” and “person diagnosed with autism”). Participants reported which terms they would use, ranked the terms in order of their preference, and rated how much they liked each term and how offensive each term was. In open-ended responses, participants explained their highest and lowest rankings and provided definitions of (the autism) “spectrum,” “high functioning,” and “low functioning.” Results: Both autistic and non-autistic participants were more likely to use identity-first terms than person-first terms, ranked identity-first terms more highly than person-first terms, and liked identity-first terms more than person-first terms. Participants’ open-ended responses provided some context for the quantitative findings and highlighted their critical views of functioning labels. Conclusion: Consistent with other recent work with different samples and different methodologies, the North American participants in the current study preferred identity-first terms over person-first terms. That said, there was variability, with some autistic and non-autistic participants strongly preferring person-first terms. We end by providing recommendations on incorporating our findings into future research and practice.

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It's embarrassing, destructive, and looks like shit: AI-generated art is the perfect aesthetic form for the far right.

I regret to inform you that Paul Graham, investor and founder of the startup training program Y Combinator, has published a new essay: "The Origins of Wokeness." You can tell the political bent of his screed by the invocation of "woke," no doubt. But at this stage, I'm not sure

A book guide downloadable as a PDF (18 pages) with recommendations for children’s books on neurodiversity, autism and ADHD, non-fiction books for autistic/ADHD tweens and teens, fiction books for autistic/ADHD tweens and teens, and books for parents and professionals on neurodivergence. The images

1700+ Children's Books, Parenting Books, Music Albums, and More for and About LGBTQ Families

Neurodiversity is, at it's core, an axis of biodiversity (Chapman, 2023) . It is a paradigm built on the assumption that human bodyminds are unique and variable (Walker, 2021) while remaining responsive and adaptable to their environment. To this end, we have come to understand autism and ADHD as types of bodyminds (among countless others)

This work was designed to establish the belonging of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities within research through the undertaking of a collaborative study of identity with four people who have profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. It began with the research question: how can I do research with people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities? The ‘with’ of this question is foregrounded against a history of research done on and for people with disabilities. Dovetailed with the emerging answering of the first question is the second question of this study: how is identity experienced within our research encounters?The philosophical foundations of this work are Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception. Building on an enactivist ontology and informed epistemologically by participatory sense-making the study involved participant observation as a methodological approach, informed by sensory ethnography. Fieldwork took place two days per week from February 2023 to October 2023 in a special school in the UK. In addition to ethics clearance, permission given by the school and informed consent given by the parents of the young people who were approached to take part, process assent was continually sought from the young people who were participants in regards to the first question of the study and researchers in relation to the second question.Data were generated in the form of ethnographic vignettes and reflexive memos. Photographs were also taken. The dataset was thematically analysed through an intuitive, iterative, inductive process and ultimately the themes of: intention, Being With, obstructions and identity were generated.In relation to question one the researcher, together with the young people involved found a research method they were able to use to meaningfully work together in the exploration of question two. This method is referred to as Being With. People with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities were able to adopt researcher identities, where identity was understood as a sense of who one is in a social location and how one acts. Working together, through the process of Being With, embodied identity was experienced as shared.This work troubles the narrative that people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities are too difficult to include in research. The findings around identity ask us to consider ways in which identity may be held in embodied fashion and help to illuminate the experiences of people close to people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities who often struggle to wrestle their notion of themselves separate from their notion of their loved one. Ultimately the belonging of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities within research is argued for based on fact, fairness, and fruitfulness: including them brings us insights we would not gain without them, their exclusion is an epistemic injustice, and as we seek to understand the human experience we cannot do that fully unless all humans are included in the models we create.

That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn't even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn't even an enemy you could put your finger on. – Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale In some

Despite substantial evidence linking insomnia with increased suicidality in non-autistic populations, its role in autism remains under-explored. Poor sleep, most commonly insomnia symptoms (hereafter insomnia), is a significant issue in autism, affecting up to 80% of autistic children and adults, co …

It is the first study to look at school phone rules, alongside measures of pupil health and education.

"Run the dishwasher twice" might sound like strange mental health advice, but this beautiful lesson came from an answer from Katie Scott on Quora to the

In an effort to boost engagement while also nurturing 21st century skills such as collaboration and critical thinking, a growing number of U.S. public schools h...

Two studies from English-speaking samples investigated the methodologically difficult question of whether the later reading achievement of children le…

Really it's about community that works for you

From the Twentieth Century

This blog has been inspired by Dr Jeremy Shuman's (PsyD) presentation, 'Neurodiversity-Affirming OCD Care' (August 2023), available here. Exp ...

We tracked young autistic children's eye gaze in order to gain insights about how they attend to and experience things around them. Autistic children who were slower to “unstick” their attention from...

The Nora Project has now released its Standards for Inclusive Schools , a groundbreaking roadmap for building inclusive schools where all students with and without disabilities are welcomed as their full and authentic selves, respected as integral parts of the community, and empowered to advocate

Is screen use really sapping our ability to focus and lowering our IQs? The scientists who have actually analysed the data give their verdict

The following chapter explores and explains what ‘lies beneath’ the diagnosis of autism. The foundation for this chapter is based on original knowledge grounded in the theory of monotropism, heralded in the 2005 paper by Murray, Lesser and Lawson. The work on monotropism began in the 90’s and has been followed through until present times. Current research is supportive of the monotropism theory of autism which posits autism as ‘a matter of attention’, specifically ‘monotropic attention’. When attention is captured by interest (for whatever reason) it occupies the whole of one’s attention. This impacts concepts such as being literal (not reading between the lines), missing the subtle cues of social interaction and highlighting or underwhelming our sensory systems, challenges with object permanence and being misunderstood. But it also leads to incredible strengths and allows for one’s passion to be a source of joy, stability and an aid to mental fitness. When an individual’s autism is understood and accommodated, self-compassion can flourish and we can live life to the best of our ability. This chapter offers original knowledge to aid the understanding of autism that has not previously been accommodated.

Autistic shielding is leaning into your neurological differences and behaviours. It is embracing neuro-anarchy: being who you are, doing what you do and bollocks if others don’t like it. Shie…

For all of humanity’s many, many flaws, one of our most redeeming characteristics as a species is an almost-universal desire to connect with one another. When terrible things happen and communities…

Disclosure: I’m on the board of Bluesky, so feel free to take as many grains of salt as you want in reading it, even though part of this is cheering on a new entrant looking to build an alternative…