Lectures and seminars A life apart from others. Portrayals of autism in children and families’ encounters with the welfare state 1977-2015
How have knowledge, support measures and views on autism changed over time? In this KIND Open Webinar, researchers Sofia Littmarck and Peter Holmqvist highlight how parents and association representatives have advocated for knowledge, understanding, rights and tailored support, particularly in schools, healthcare and social care. The webbinar is in Swedish.
The presentation is based on a historical study of how autism in children was described and categorised in Autism Sverige’s member magazine Ögonblick between 1977 and 2015. The lecture highlights how views on autism have changed over time and how parents and association representatives have argued for knowledge, understanding, rights and tailored support, particularly in schools, healthcare and social care.
Particular attention is paid to the interplay between shifts in diagnostic boundaries and categorisations, welfare policy reforms, and changing perspectives on integration and inclusion. We highlight how the struggle for tailored support has built on and involved changes in the ways autism in children is categorised, with changing ways of describing what characterises autism in children and new boundaries in relation to other conditions and disabilities.
The phrase a life apart from other people’s comes from a parent who, at the end of the period, expresses an experience of struggling for understanding and support, an account that permeated the entire period studied.
Title:
Ett liv vid sidan av andras. Skildringar av autism hos barn och familjers möten med välfärdssamhället 1977-2015
(A life alongside others: depictions of autism in children and families' encounters with the welfare state, 1977–2015)
Speakers:
Sofia Littmarck, Senior Lecturer, PhD, Child Studies, Division of Learning, Aesthetics and Natural Sciences, Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linköping University.
Peter Holmqvist, Senior Lecturer, PhD, Child Studies, Division of Social Work, Department of Culture and Society, Linköping University.
About KIND Open Webinars:
KIND Open Webinars are free of charge, and this lecture will be held in Swedish. KIND Open Webinars are intended for professionals in healthcare and schools, researchers, people with a diagnosis who are interested, family members and others with an interest. No registration is required. To take part, join via the link above at the specified time. KIND Open Webinars are not recorded.