Moving Through a Textual Space Autistically.

This article is an investigation of neurodivergent reading practices. It is a collectively written paper where the focus is as much on an autoethnographic exploration of our autistic readings of autism/autistic fiction as it is on the read texts themselves. The reading experiences described come primarily from Yoon Ha Lee's Dragon Pearl (2019) and Dahlia Donovan's The Grasmere Cottage Mystery (2018), which we experience as opposite each other in how they depict their neurodivergent characters and speak to us as autistic readers. Through the article, we describe a formation of neurodivergent (critical) collective readings of autism/autistic fiction. The article contributes to an academic and activistic discourse around neurodivergent reader responses and power relations between neurodivergent and neurotypical readers and authors.

Neurodiversity, Networks, and Narratives: Exploring Intimacy and Expressive Freedom in the Time of Covid-19.

The Narratives of Neurodiversity Network (NNN) is a neurodivergent academic, creative, and educator collective that came together with allies during the Covid-19 pandemic to create a network centred around emerging narratives about neurodiversity and exploring new ways of learning and socialising. The network focuses on exploring the roles of written, spoken, and visual narratives across cultural locations about neuro-atypical experiences in generating improved agency and self-advocacy for those who have been subject to pathologization through neuro-normativity and intersecting oppression. During the last year, widening access to digital platforms has provided a space to explore these issues outside of traditional academic spaces. We run a monthly "Salon," our mixed-media "reading, listening, and watching" group, in an effort to find positive representation within contemporary culture. Discussions have moved beyond mimesis and into a consideration of how narrative and storyworlds can question the supposed naturalness of certain ways of being in and perceiving the world. This article interrogates the network's core principles of nonhierarchical co-production, including the roles of creativity, community, identity, and emancipatory research which were animated by the new techno-social context. We consider the cultural lives of neurodiversity in the West and beyond, including ethical and aesthetic dimensions. We share a faith in the power of storytelling to inform new social identities for neurodivergent people and to inform scientific understandings of atypical cognition. In exploring this, we speak through a porous first-person plural narrator, to unsettle the idea that there is a hegemonic "we" speaking on behalf of all neurodivergent people.

Being, Knowing, and Doing: Importing Theoretical Toolboxes for Autism Studies.

The aim of this article was to think with and elaborate on theories developed outside of autism research and the autistic community, and through this support the production of new autistic-led theories: theories and concepts based on autistic people's own embodied experiences and the social worlds we inhabit. The article consists of three different sections all of part of the overall umbrella, Being, knowing, and doing: Importing theoretical toolboxes for autism studies. In each section, we import useful concepts from elsewhere and tailor them to autism studies. Throughout, we mingle our own autoethnographic accounts and shared discourse in relation to research accounts and theories. Illustrating being, we explore and discuss the possibilities of critical realism in autism studies. Illustrating knowing, we explore and discuss the possibilities of standpoint theory in autism studies. Finally, illustrating doing, we explore and discuss the possibilities of neurocosmopolitics including epistemic (in)justice in autism studies. Our proposal here is for an epistemic shift toward neurodiverse collaboration. We are inviting nonautistic people to work with, not on, us, aiming at to make autism research more ethical, breaking down bureaucratic structures, and questioning poor theory and shoddy methodology. Acknowledging intersecting axes of oppression in which an individual seeks to renegotiate and reimagine what it means to belong also means to understand what needs changing in society, as it is and how we might do things differently.

Why is this topic important: People are starting to realize that good autism research should include autistic people (as researchers, participants, co-designers, for example), which means working in neurodiverse teams (teams that include autistic and non-autistic people). So far, a lot of ideas that researchers have had about autistic people have said that they (we) are impaired, which is hurtful and can make it hard to work together. If we are going to create better research, and better spaces to do research in, we need to find new ideas and ways to work. It is important that these new ideas are based on how autistic people see themselves and the world around them (us). What is the purpose of this article?: In this article, we (a group of neurodivergent researchers) look at how we can apply ideas about how knowledge is made, how we use knowledge, and how knowledge impacts people, to creating better autism research. We use ideas from philosophy and think about how they can help us to share our experiences with each other. What do the authors suggest?: We start by exploring how a theory called 'critical realism' can be used to understand differing autistic experiences, by taking into account how our identities and experiences are shaped by different social environments and affect we think about the world. Next we apply standpoint theory, which looks at the importance of acknowledging the impact of a researchers own identity in research. Finally, we explore 'neurocosmopolitanism', which hopes for a future where our differences can be celebrated and accepted. We also think about 'epistemic injustice', where research that is done 'on' instead of 'with' leads to inaccurate or harmful knowledge about us. We argue that by applying ideas such as these to autism studies, we can create spaces where fair and just autism research is created. We argue that these ideas will help both autistic and non-autistic researchers to understand each other better, because they are based on what it is like to be autistic, and not what being autistic looks like to non-autistic people. What do the authors think should happen in the future?: The authors think that more researchers should think about what they say about autistic people. Autistic people should be recognized as the people with the most knowledge about what it is like to be autistic. We think that this will create a kinder way of working for both autistic and non-autistic people and research will be more useful and ethical. How will this study help autistic people now and in future?: This research will help autistic people in two ways. First, it will make sure that autistic people's ideas and experiences will be taken more seriously by non-autistic colleagues. Second, it will lead to better autism research, benefitting autistic people who are not just researchers. This is because the ideas will be more closely related to the experiences of autistic people, instead of outside interpretations of what it is like to be autistic.

Cutting our own keys: New possibilities of neurodivergent storying in research.

LAY ABSTRACT: A lot of people who do research are also neurodivergent (such as being autistic or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), but neurodivergent people do not always feel welcome in research spaces which are often shaped around neurotypical people. Some neurotypical researchers lack confidence in talking to neurodivergent people, and others feel like neurodivergent people might not be able to do good research about other people who are like them without being biased. We think it is important that all researchers are able to work well together, regardless of whether they are neurotypical, autistic, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (or any other neurotype) - in truly 'neurodiverse' teams. In this article we talk about how to create better spaces for all researchers, where we feel valued for who we are and take each others' needs into account. We do this using some approaches from other areas of research and talking about how they relate to our personal experiences of being neurodivergent researchers with our own personal stories. This article adds to a growing work on how we can work with people who are different from us, in more respectful and kind ways.