Towards Inclusive Understandings : Analysing Czech Autism Organisations' Discourse

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14210%2F24%3A00140974" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14210/24:00140974 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

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DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Towards Inclusive Understandings : Analysing Czech Autism Organisations' Discourse

Original language description

While autism is still predominantly perceived as a developmental disorder globally, the neurodiversity paradigm is gradually gaining acceptance in the USA and the UK as a more appropriate approach to autism on both personal and institutional levels. However, in the Czech Republic, autism is still predominantly understood as a disorder present in children, and almost all institutional support focuses exclusively on therapy and social services. This paper aims to present an analysis of the “About autism” sections of four main autism organisations in the Czech Republic: Nautis, Paspoint, Za Sklem and Adventor. It will argue that from the very first titles on each of the four pages, it is evident that these organisations operate under the pathology paradigm and the medical model of disability. Conversely, several self-advocacy organisations in the UK and USA have been founded and are run by autistic people, with the most established among them being ASAN (Autistic Self-Advocacy Network). Since self-advocacy organisations are run by autistic people for autistic people of all ages (rather than solely for families and their children), their rhetoric focuses on autism as a form of neurodiversity and on building a community for autistic individuals. This chapter argues that while it is crucial to provide social services and care to those who need them, it is equally important for the understanding of autism in the Czech Republic to reflect the latest global developments in fields such as critical neurodiversity studies and disability studies and to implement the neurodiversity paradigm on both personal and institutional levels.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

C - Chapter in a specialist book

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

60202 - Specific languages

Project

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Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Book/collection name

Cognitive Context Models in Literary and Non-Literary Discourse

ISBN

9788088507246

Number of pages of the result

15

Pages from-to

71-85

Number of pages of the book

203

Publisher name

Verbum

Place of publication

Praha

UT code for WoS chapter

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