Autism A Social and Medical History

by Waltz, Mitzi

• ISBN13: 9780230527508
• ISBN10: 0230527507
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-03-22
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Autism: A Social and Medical History contextualizes autism as a socio cultural phenomenon, and examines the often troubling effects of representations and social trends. Exploring the individuals and events in the history of this condition, Waltz blends research and personal perspectives to examine social narratives of normalcy, disability and difference. Autism has often been seen as separate from other forms of impairment and negative attitudes towards people with autism and, in the past, their parents, have been prevalent. This book explores key research in the field as well as insight from parents and people with autism, the latter of whom have often had no voice in what is written about the history of autism. This book will appeal to researchers and students in the fields of medical sociology, disability studies, and medical history as well as increasing public debates on autism.

Author Biography

Dr Mitzi Waltz works at the Autism Centre at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. She previously taught Autism Studies at the University of Birmingham (2007-2012), and was Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Sunderland (2002-2007). She has contributed to many key pieces of autism research and resources.

Table of Contents

Preface: Autism, and How We Got Here

1. A Nameless Difference
2. Autism Before and After the Enlightenment
3. Workhouses, Asylums, and the Rise of Behavioural Sciences
4. The Social Construction of Autism
5. From 'Pathological Motherhood' to Refrigerator Mothers
6. Bedlam, Behaviourism and Beyond
7. Parent Blaming, Parent Power, and the Start of Real Research
8. Self-advocacy and the Rise of the Medical Model

Footnotes
References
Index