Disability and diversity: the challenges faced by autistic people

Autism has been variously described as everything from an evil spirit that robs parents of their children, to a differing cognitive style, or even a fundamental asset to human evolution. The spectrum of ways in which autistic people can present is so myriad, that it may be little wonder that the ‘enigma’ (Frith, 1989) still evades simplistic descriptions, as scientists search in vain for what exactly autism is. Although various attempts have been made to categorise differing subgroups of the autism spectrum, e.g. ‘Asperger Syndrome’, ‘low-functioning autism’, ‘atypical autism’; it is highly questionable as to how accurately such distinctions can be made and how useful they are in practice. This presentation looks at the challenges of understanding and addressing the needs of such a diverse array of people in relation to both traditional models of disability and that of more recent proposals. This presentation will also comment on the work of the Participatory Autism Research Collective (PARC) in relation to meeting such needs.