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Patrick McDonagh The notion of empathy, like that of intelligence, seems to require outsiders – like those with autism – whose exclusion from “empathic consciousness” can assure the rest of us that we are acceptably empathic. This chapter challenges the use of autism as a test case for validating the concept of empathy.

Francisco Ortega This chapter analyzes the relationship between autistic people and their brains. In particular, it explores how a brain-related vocabulary was mobilized by autistic self-advocates to deconstruct deficit-focused narratives of autism. At the same time, it challenges the idea that neuroscience is radically transforming notions of personhood and community.

Michael Orsini and Joyce Davidson The work brings together a range of perspectives by uniting researchers who are concerned, to a greater or lesser degree, with autistic subjectivities and the politics of cognitive difference. International, trans-disciplinary approach brings philosophers and critical theorists into dialogue with researchers who have conducted case studies of autism within the social sciences and humanities; Situates autism within an abilities framework that respects the complex personhood of autistic individuals, in contrast to the deficit model prevalent in much existing clinical literature; Suitable for scholars, policymakers, autistic individuals, and other individuals and groups involved in developing strategies and services with, and for, autistic people.

Maja Holmer Nadesan This chapter considers the politics behind competing explanations for autism. Critiquing the dominant frame governing autism research and public funding for autism, the author argues that genetic research trajectories and practices have the potential to reduce autistic persons to a form of “bare life” denied social equality and political representations.

Brigitte Chamak and Beatrice Bonniau This chapter provides a comparative perspective on autism advocacy using insights gleaned from the study of health social movements. By refocusing attention on contested perspectives of community organization, the chapter sheds light on how people with autism (and non-autistic others) organize themselves and others for diverse political ends.

Sara Ryan Analyzing data from two qualitative research projects in which people with autism spectrum disorder were asked to talk about their experiences, this chapter considers the ambiguity surrounding diagnosis and considers what an “official” diagnosis means in terms of the development of a reflexive autistic self.

Stuart Murray Drawing on theory, clinical conceptions, ideas of possible medical futures, and writings from those with autism themselves, this chapter aims to think through the multiple and often confusing arguments that come with the juxtaposition of the terms autism and the posthuman.

Charlotte Brownlow and Lindsay O’Dell The neurodiversity movement claims autism as a difference (and often as a superior identity). This chapter considers how a biological explanation of autism has been refashioned into a neurological account of neurodiversity, which can help people with autism to engage with negative and disabling mainstream models of autism.

Kristin Bumiller The life chances of people with disabilities, and in particular those with autism, are highly determined by state policies. This chapter offers a critical perspective on how the treatment of children with disabilities and the proscriptions for future policies are directly connected to the changing nature of state responsibility.

Dora Raymaker and Christina Nicolaidis This chapter surveys key issues in minority-scientist social dynamics and how they shape traditional autism research. Drawing examples from a project with autistic adults, the chapter examines how community based participatory research challenges traditional approaches to research, providing a historically effective route to social change for minority communities.

Dana Lee Baker and Lila Walsh This chapter examines the degree to which the needs and interests of so-called low- and high-functioning individuals with autism are set in tension with one another in Canadian political discourse. The authors consider autism within disability policy before moving on to discuss the historical development of autism as a public concern.

Mark Osteen This chapter considers “the narrative problem of autism,” suggesting that autism stories tend to follow general rules that threaten to collapse autism’s diversity into a menu of formulae. By contrast, the author suggests that visual media may offer a more adequate means to narrate autism.

Joyce Davidson and Michael Orsini This chapter investigates the perceived importance of the Internet for individuals on the autism spectrum. Drawing on a study of autistic autobiographies, the authors are concerned to examine the extent to which online activities expand or contract the social and emotional horizons of autistic life-worlds.

Kristina Chew This chapter opens with a brief examination of current conventional approaches to speaking for and about autism and autistic people. The remainder of the chapter explores alternatives, discussing representational practice, and drawing on Walter Benjamin’s understanding of translation as a framework for re-centering people with autism as makers of meaning.

Dawn Eddings Prince In this chapter, the author draws attention to the singular and exclusionary nature of academic writing, its own insular view of reality, and its beloved rigidity and reliable patterns, arguing that academic writing – not least about autism – serves to empty the fullness of the thing it seeks to unequivocally contain.