Support on whose terms? competing meanings of support aimed at autistic people

Commentators on the “autism wars” (Orsini 2009; Chamak 2008) illustrate the competing meanings of autism and what is required in terms of support for autistic people. Meanings have been produced as different autistic knowledges (where knowledge is produced by autistic people, such as formulated within groups of autistic self-advocates, adults and academics) and as knowledges of autism (as knowledge produced by non-autistic people, such as formulated within groups of non-autistic parents of autistic children, academics and professionals). These knowledges have competed over rights of interpretation, including formulating best practice in support aimed at autistic people. In this chapter we conceptualise these claims to knowledge and rights of interpretation in terms of struggles within and between different epistemological communities for authority with a particular focus on support.