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Embodied sociality and the conditioned relativism of dispositional diversity

Milton, Damian (2014) Embodied sociality and the conditioned relativism of dispositional diversity. Autonomy, the Critical Journal of Interdisciplinary Autism Studies, 1 (3). pp. 1-7. ISSN 2051-5189. (KAR id:62632)

Abstract

This paper explores the concepts of ‘embodiment’ (Merleau-Ponty, 1945), as well as those of ‘conditioned relativism’ and ‘dispositional diversity’ as first devised by the paper’s author some fifteen years ago as an undergraduate student, and applies them to debates regarding neurodiversity. These concepts were devised by the author many years prior to being diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum, having been previously assessed as “suffering” from a number of mental illnesses by a number of psychiatrists in his youth. Drawing upon Marxist and Phenomenological theories in particular, these concepts are explained through an eclectic citation of references ranging from Lao Tsu to Jimi Hendrix. These philosophical/sociological conceptions will be contrasted with those of others within the neurodiversity movement as a way of highlighting the need for “autistic solidarity” and the disabling effects of being isolated from others of similar disposition. It is hoped that through this overview, a theoretical account of autistic difference being a normal part of the diversity characteristic of all nature, and thus hopefully dislodging the hegemonic dominance of what constitutes “normalcy”.

This paper was first delivered at the Theorising Normalcy Conference 2012.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled keywords: Embodiment, Neurodiversity, Hegemony, Normalcy, Lifeworld
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC553.A88 Autism. Asperger's syndrome
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research > Tizard
Depositing User: Damian Milton
Date Deposited: 14 Aug 2017 04:46 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Feb 2021 13:47 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/62632 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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