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Cited by 7Mental Health and PsychiatryDisability Rights and RepresentationAutism Spectrum Disorder Research

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 50 of the 50 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Neurodiversity, Autism, and Psychiatric Disability: The Harmful Dysfunction Perspective

Wakefield, Jerome C., Wasserman, David, Conrad, Jordan A.·2020·The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Disability
DOI 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190622879.013.29
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Abstract

Neurodiversity advocates apply the same kind of critiques to psychiatric conditions such as autism that disability theory has long applied to somatic conditions. Yet these critiques have received little attention from philosophy of psychiatry. Although the arguments of neurodiversity advocates often are undeveloped, they raise critical issues about psychiatric diagnosis and classification. This chapter uses Jerome Wakefield’s “harmful dysfunction analysis” of the concept of mental disorder to reconstruct and evaluate neurodiversity arguments that autism is a normal variation, not a mental disorder. We argue that because of the heterogeneity of “autism,” these arguments are more plausible for some subgroups than others. We find support for a moderate neurodiversity position that objects to psychiatric overreach without denying the reality of some forms of autistic disorder.

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Citations

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Research works printed but not linked: 29

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  15. 2017, Reviewing Resistances to Reconceptualising Disability., Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society
  16. 2018, Autistic Man Who Went Overboard on Carnival Cruise Was Traveling with Special Needs Group., CNN
  17. 2014, On the Misapplication of the BAPQ in a Study of Autism., Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
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  19. 1971, A Theory of Justice
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  22. Singer, Jim. 1999. “Why Can’t You Be Normal for Once in Your Life? From a ‘Problem with No Name’ to the Emergence of a New Category of Difference.” In M. Corker and S. French (Eds.), Disability Discourse, 59–67. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
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  27. Wakefield, Jerome C., and Michael B. First. 2003. “Clarifying the Distinction Between Disorder and Nondisorder: Confronting the Overdiagnosis (“False Positives”) Problem in DSM-V.” In Advancing DSM: Dilemmas in Psychiatric Diagnosis, edited by Katherine A. Phillips and Michael B. First, 23–56. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
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Metadata

Authors
Wakefield, J. C., Wasserman, D., & Conrad, J. A.
Affiliations
  • New York University (US)
  • National Institutes of Health (US)
  • KU Leuven (BE)
ORCID
Venue
The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Disability
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Published
2020-02-05
Pages
500-521
DOI
10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190622879.013.29
OpenAlex
W3004554160
Cited by
6
References
50
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2021: 2
FWCI
5.01
Type
book chapter
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Oxford University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Mental Health and Psychiatry
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Disability Rights and Representation
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
Keywords
neurodiversity, autism spectrum disorder, psychiatric disability, philosophy of psychiatry, harmful dysfunction, mental illness, psychiatric diagnosis, psychiatric classification, disability theory, normal variation

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