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
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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“In fact, once we accept that humanity is neurodiverse-which even critics of the neurodiversity movement concede is true to some extent (Jaarsma & Welin, 2012;Wakefield et al., 2020)and that there are many different, yet equally legitimate, ways of functioning, then it is not too far a step to consider that humanity will likely be similarly diverse in terms of routes to, and forms of, flourishing.”
From Neurodiversity, epistemic injustice, and the good human life (2022) · cites this paper as Wakefield et al., 2020
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Cites
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Self-citationThe Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire
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Concept Creep: Psychology's Expanding Concepts of Harm and Pathology
Haslam, N. (2016) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1080/1047840x.2016.1082418 · Cited by 538
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Neurodiversity, epistemic injustice, and the good human life
Chapman, R., & Carel, H. (2022) · Journal of Social Philosophy · doi:10.1111/josp.12456 · Cited by 231
Ghanouni, P., Hood, G., Weisbrot, A., & McNeil, K. (2021) · Research in Developmental Disabilities · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2021.104120 · Cited by 9
May, J. (2025) · Neuroethics · doi:10.1007/s12152-025-09603-7 · Cited by 7
When a Hybrid Account of Disorder is not Enough
Murphy‐Hollies, K. (2021) · European journal of analytic philosophy · doi:10.31820/ejap.17.3.5 · Cited by 2
Ballesteros, V., & Gavaldà, A. L. B. (2024) · Crítica (México D F En línea) · doi:10.22201/iifs.18704905e.2024.1516
Metadata
- Authors
- Wakefield, J. C., Wasserman, D., & Conrad, J. A.
- Affiliations
- New York University (US)
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- KU Leuven (BE)
- Venue
- The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Disability
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Published
- 2020-02-05
- Pages
- 500-521
- 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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