“Autism is me”: an investigation of how autistic individuals make sense of autism and stigma
Open accessAbstract
There are many different perspectives for understanding autism. These perspectives may each convey different levels of stigma for autistic individuals. This qualitative study aimed to understand how autistic individuals make sense of their own autism and experience the stigma attached to autism. The study used critical grounded theory tools. Participants discussed autism as central to their identity, and integral to who they are. While participants thought of autism as value neutral, they expressed how society confers negative meanings onto autism, and thus, them. The findings also indicate that different understandings of autism confer different levels of stigma. Participants expressed constant exposure to stigma and managed this stigma in different ways. Such methods included reframing to more positive understandings of autism, the reclamation of language, and using concealment and disclosure strategically. The implications of these findings are discussed further in the article.
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Such memories may be difficult for neurodivergent individuals to bring to mind, given dominant societal frameworks of deficit and exclusion.
“Such memories may be difficult for neurodivergent individuals to bring to mind, given the dominant societal frameworks of deficit and exclusion (Botha et al., 2020).”
From Compassionate pedagogy for neurodiversity in higher education: A conceptual analysis (2023) · cites this paper as Botha et al., 2020
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- Authors
- Botha, M., Dibb, B., & Frost, D. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Surrey (GB)
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Botha, Monique
- Venue
- Disability & Society
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2020-10-06
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 427-453
- ISSN
- 0267-4645 (ISSN-L)
- 0968-7599
- 1360-0508
- OpenAlex
- W3092648145
- Cited by
- 412
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 72 · 2025: 101 · 2024: 93 · 2023: 69 · 2022: 49 · 2021: 28
- FWCI
- 49.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Disability & Society (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Stirling Online Research Repository (University of Stirling) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Durham Research Online (Durham University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Rights and Representation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Inclusion and Disability in Education and Sport
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, stigma, autistic identity, stigma management, concealment and disclosure, language reclamation, reframing, value neutrality
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