Transitioning to adulthood: autism and biological citizenship

The concept of 'Biological Citizens' is one that has increased in popularity in recent literature. Several considerations have been made of it in relation to enhancing our understandings of disability and impairment (Hughes, 2009), specific labels such as bi-polar affective disorder (Rose and Novas, 2005) and autism (Orsini, 2009). In this paper we further explore the concept of 'Biological Citizens' and extend considerations of it to our understandings of autism. We draw on online discussion list exchanges by people with autism, parents of people with autism and professionals working with people with autism in exploring the crafting of communities based on biological and neurological differences. The concept of neurological difference has been a long standing issue for autistic advocates, who frequently draw on neurology as a way of warranting difference between people with autism and ‘neurological typicals’. In doing so clear arguments are presented which serve to position autism as a difference rather than a deficit. In this paper we seek to further explore the concept of biological citizenship for these online groups and what identification with this may mean for young people with autism transitioning to adulthood

Representations of autism: Implications for community healthcare practice

The work presented in this paper is part of a larger project in which online asynchronous discussion groups were employed to examine how a range of contributors - including people with autism, parents of people with autism, and professionals working within the field of autism - view and understand autism. In this paper, we focus on the voices of people with autism. The terminology used in the paper takes its lead from the writings of people with autism, who frequently use the term 'AS' to refer to autistic spectrum and Asperger syndrome and 'NT', which refers to neurologically typical people without autism. We examine a key theme identified in the online discussion groups - the representation of individuals with autism as occupying a separate world of autism. In doing so, we question an apparent goal of therapeutic interventions - to bring people with autism out of their 'separate world' and integrate them into a more typically 'social world'. We present an alternative understanding of autism that argues for valuing diversity and viewing autism as a difference rather than a deficit. We will discuss some of the implications that this may have for working with people with autism in health and social care practice

Ethical issues for qualitative research in on-line communities

Internet technology has developed rapidly in recent years, and offers new possibilities for researching, particularly when working with hard to reach groups who may benefit from a move away from more traditional methodologies. The research has been informed by various methodologies, and is flexible in its application and nature, varying from an analysis of the content of web pages (Jones, Zahlm and Huws 2001), to complex discourse analytic techniques of ‘electronic conversations’, (Denzin, 1999). One of the most common uses of the Internet as a research tool has focused on the use of online questionnaires, via web page delivery or e-mail, and has proved useful in providing novel insights into research questions (see for example Coomber’s ,1997 investigations of drug dealers) as have on-line focus groups, and real-time interviews (O’Connor and Madge, 2000)

Exploring the transitions of young people with autism from childhood to young adulthood

The aim of this paper is to review current positions in transition literature and to identify the role for a community psychological perspective in understanding the transitions of young people with autism. In doing this we would like to introduce a forthcoming project where we will be exploring the experiences of transitions of young people with autism, their families and professionals involved with the families, within a framework which strives to challenge the dominance of a deficit model of autism and explain and research autism from a perspective of valuing neurodiverse qualities and perspectives. The research will capitalise on some of the reported positive engagements with new technologies by people with autism and host synchronous online interviews with young people with autism (14-21 years), parents of young people with autism and professionals working with young people with autism. In addition to this, the young people with autism will be invited to join a synchronous discussion forum where they will be encouraged to collaboratively develop a wiki in order to produce a working paper of information and advice for policy makers reflecting their own voice within the management of the transition process. This is consistent with the overall approach of the project which is to work with young people with autism and draw upon their expertise and experience. The proposed research also poses the question of what transition services, based on understandings of autism as a form of 'neurodiversity', might look like and how services influenced by this re-framing might enable the young people and their families in the transition process. This project draws on two trans-disciplinary perspectives; disability studies and critical community psychology. Through synthesising these two perspectives, this research project will bring a necessary criticality and clarity of theory to understandings of transition to adulthood in a neurodiverse world. The project aims to apply these theories in very real professional, institutional and policy contexts

Introducing concepts of workforce diversity

This edited volume highlights relevant issues and solutions for diversity groups within the workplace. It explores issues of identity as they relate to attributes of gender, age, migrant labor, disability, and power in social spaces. Identity is rarely well-defined in many social spaces, and understandings that define belonging are often developed through the normative expectations of others. Having an evidence-based approach in addressing these relevant issues, this book will appeal to academics and practitioners alike looking for practical and theoretical solutions to improving the situations of these groups in paid employment

Internet research and the implications for ethical research practice

The Internet has extended the opportunity for researchers to investigate human actions and interactions. This study aims to critically examine the various ways that ethical considerations associated with Internet-Mediated Research (IMR) are constructed as a social reality by Australian Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) and the implications for research practice. This project builds on research undertaken in the United States by Buchannan and Ess (2009) which discussed US Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and the state of Internet research ethics. An explanatory sequential mixed design, consisting of two distinct phases was conducted (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2003). Quantitative data was collected and analysed in the first phase (Study 1) via an online survey of Australian Human Research Ethics Committee members from March to April 2016. Semi-structured interviews (n=3) were then conducted with Chairpersons of Australian Human Research Ethics Committees (Study 2) and analysed to further explain and clarify results found in the first data collection phase. Results of current processes and practices of Australian HRECs obtained in Study 1 were found to be similar to those reported by US IRBs and suggested that ethical review boards may be ill-equipped and ill-trained to navigate the review of IMR protocols. However, the addition of a qualitative overlay via the Australian HREC Chairperson’s interviews in Study 2 provided additional detail that suggested that reviewing IMR protocols is more complex than previously understood. Thematic analysis of the interview data identified that the ethical review of IMR protocols is thoroughly undertaken via a principle-based process as it is not viewed as being different to any other research method or tool. Additionally, ethical responsibility in this space is shared amongst the HREC, researchers, and participants themselves

Conclusion: theorising transgressive developmental trajectories and understanding children seen as ‘different’

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book discusses the three interrelated themes to explore how they offer possibilities with which to refine and extend knowledge about non/normative development and 'different' childhoods. It has been structured around three core themes that speak to critiques of developmental psychology. The book discloses several issues that are relevant to understanding and developing theory about non-normative or different childhoods. It discusses geographical location as it intersects with understandings of nation, childhood and gender for child migrants in a host country; gender and role models within families and other care settings; the location of the child as a vulnerable subject; and development as located within particular understandings of mothers' work, food and social class. The book highlights that the construction of a child was in relation to the duties of adults to provide for and protect children and to ensure that they develop appropriately

The construction of the autistic individual : investigations in online discussion groups

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Introducing normative and different childhoods, developmental trajectory and transgression

This chapter discusses the difference and transgression through a series of empirical, conceptual and literature-based exemplars. It addresses the ways in which normative ideas about childhood impact on understandings of particular kinds of children and set up assumptions about the norms against which 'others' are judged. The chapters draws on a range of dimensions of difference, including how difference is manifested through geographical location; economic differentiation and identification through social class; embodied differences such as gender and disability; and through a developmental lens, which demarcates activities as congruent within a particular developmental age or as transgressive. It discusses these instances in ways that attend to the local, contingent and partial knowledges about contexts of development and movements through time. The introduction chapter then presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book

A critical consideration of the use of therapeutic recordings in the training and professional development of psychologists

There is little critical consideration of the discursive features of recordings of therapy. This paper moves beyond a focus on what is being done by the therapist to the client and focuses on how psychological practice is discursively co-produced, and how power and ideological assumptions about psychology practice are oriented to and made relevant by therapist and client