Den kritiske psykologi og autisme som neurodivergens

Abstract

Autistic people experience stigmatization, a lower quality of life and have a high rate of suicide. This bachelor thesis examines whether understanding autism as neurodivergence has the potential to expand the action potence of autistic people.

Neurodivergence is both a movement and a theoretical framework in which autism is understood as a normal and healthy human variation instead of as a disorder. However, in a society that does not accomodate autism it becomes a disability. The potential is examined by using the critical psychology to analyse empirical studies. This shows that neurodivergence as a framework has the potential to improve the self-esteem of autistics, as well as lower stigma. This, however does not directly address the objective conditions in society, which is problematic from a view of the critical psychology. The critical psychology focuses on the dialectic relationship between individual and society and therefore this thesis also examines how neurodivergence can improve conditions by making self-advocacy an option for autistic people. The thesis argues that understanding autism as neurodivergence has a great potential for expanding action potence but that more research is needed to understand under which conditions this can be obtained. Therefore future research should focus on situated practice and intersectionality.

Bedømmelse: 12