Autism Studies in Education (AutiSE)
With our research collective “Autism Studies in Education” (AutiSE) at the University of Education Freiburg, we…
- analyze the role of autism in education and, in particular, with regard to (organizational/interactional) processes of inclusion and exclusion – informed by an interdisciplinary perspective sourced from educational science, sociology, and psychology;
- understand the phenomenon of autism not as an individual deficit, but as a cultural or social production – and endeavour to broaden the horizon of autism research by pursuing international and cross-cultural comparisons;
- discuss methodological questions relating to the topic of representation, whilst placing special emphasis on exploring how the ‘critical element’ of Critical Autism Studies might unfold herein.
We strive to create a space for these conversations through (inter)national collaborations and look forward to exchange and cooperation, e.g. in the format of the Lecture Series “Autism Studies in Education – Methodologies I Critique I Representation”.
Im Forschungsbereich "Autism Studies in Education" (AutiSE) an der Pädagogischen Hochschule Freiburg…
- untersuchen wir die Rolle von Autismus im Kontext (schulischer) Bildung und Erziehung mit Blick auf (organisationale/interaktionale) Prozesse der In-/Exklusion – und nehmen dafür Bezug auf interdisziplinäre Perspektiven, u.a. der Erziehungswissenschaft, Soziologie und Psychologie;
- verstehen wir das Phänomen Autismus nicht als individuelles Defizit, sondern als kulturelles oder soziales Konstrukt – und streben eine internationale und kulturvergleichende Forschung an;
- diskutieren wir method(olog)ische Fragen im Zusammenhang mit dem Thema Repräsentation und setzen dabei einen besonderen Schwerpunkt darauf, zu erörtern, worin das ‚kritische Element‘ der Critical Autism Studies liegen kann.
Wir möchten durch (inter)nationale Kooperationen einen Raum für diese Diskurse schaffen und freuen uns auf Austausch und Kollaboration, beispielsweise im Rahmen der Lecture Series “Autism Studies in Education – Methodologies I Critique I Representation”.
News & Events
We are delighted to announce that our German-speaking anthology “Cultural and Social Perspectives on Autism” has been published: https://www.wvttrier.de/p/kulturelle-und-soziale-perspektiven-auf-autismus
This volume focuses on autism in the context of school and teaching. It explores questions such as: Which societal developments turn autism into a school-related phenomenon, and in what ways? What role do diagnoses play at the intersection of medical assessment and (subject-specific) pedagogical approaches? And whether—and if so, how—pedagogy comes into play in this context? The volume thus serves as a tentative space for discourse, bringing together and interweaving diverse empirical, theoretical, interdisciplinary, and international perspectives. The aim is to contribute to an understanding of autism as a dynamic cultural and social category situated at the intersection of medicine, social law, economics—as well as social pedagogy, special education, and school pedagogy.
It contains interviews with Mitzi Waltz, Ludger Tebartz van Elst, and Michael Orsini—as well as contributions from Katrin Kreuznacht, Thomas Hoffmann, Julia Tierbach, Fiona & Graham Hallett, Allison Moore, Marek Grummt, Jules Bündgens-Kosten, Michelle Proyer, Maite Franco, Andreia Costa, and the AutiSE research collective.
“Epistemic justice in Critical Autism Studies (CAS) – A reflection on the methodological doxa”
Abstract: The field of autism research has long been dominated by clinical knowledge production. More recently, this pattern orients towards the social model of disability (Milton 2023). Methodologically, the shift is echoed by a focus on participatory autism research: As a counter-model to the objectifying and dehumanizing tendencies (Botha 2023) it aims to include the priorities of the Autistic Community (Kapp 2019) at all levels of the research process—in the hope of establishing epistemic justice (Fricker 2023).
In this regard, the “Participatory Zeitgeist“ (Palmer et al. 2019) can be stated as the new doxa (Bourdieu 1980) in the field of Critical Autism Studies—centering the autistic knowledge (Ryan & Milton 2023). With this approach, the binary between non-/participatory implies an alignment with the opposition non-/critical. However, this can reinforce the naturalization of difference and eclipse other methodological approaches that are also committed to the idea of epistemic justice—but doubt that the perspective of those involved in a situation can directly reveal its situatedness (Clarke 2005). The latter seems to be important as it is simultaneously argued that the critical component of CAS lies in the fact that “[i]t takes the focus off the autistic person and their ‘personal troubles’ and recognizes the socially situated nature of public issues facing autistic people” (Ryan & Milton 2023: 3f.).
Against this background, Broderick and Roscigno (2025: 629) identify as neglected component the “paradigmatic concern or interest in knowledge creation/production and its processural relation to reality constitution”. Based on previous work and discussion in our AutiSE research group, this paper gathers positions and contributes to the issues raised by (a) reconstructing notions of the ‘critical’, (b) discussing ambivalent labels of neurodiversity/neurodivergence as a pre-reflective paradigmatic underpinning of the non-/participatory distinction and (c) deriving methodological implications for research in CAS.
Here you can find our pre-recorded paper presentation (podcast).
