CAS as a discipline is led by autistic academics, and many autistic people engage with the discipline in nonacademic spaces.[3][4][6] The point of this field's existence is to give power to the voices of autistic people in autism research,[4] but there is critique of the field for failing to represent the depth of how intersectionality affects autistic people.[6] The field of critical autism studies was created for the purpose of creating a better life for autistic individuals[4][3] through the challenging of the medical model of disability, ableism against autistic individuals, and harmful stereotypes about autism.[4] Many CAS scholars are from fields in the social sciences and humanities.[4]
The primary components of this field of research are how autism as a label is impacted by power relations between autistic and non-autistic scholars, challenges against the medical model of disability and deficit narratives in relation to autism, and how autism as an identity is highly individualized.[5][3][6] Two other components that have been proposed but have not been widely accepted within CAS are whether autism diagnoses are valid given the way that autism as a label has been created by non-autistic people and what the value of an autism diagnosis is.[3][6]
History
Key themes of CAS as a field can be traced back to Jim Sinclair in 1993.[5]
CAS as we know it now originates from a workshop by Joyce Davidson and Michael Orsini in 2011.[3][4]
Larry Arnold released the first journal for CAS in 2012.[4]
The first book on the theoretical work of CAS was published in 2016.[4]
Theoretical works
Autonomy: The Critical Journal of Interdisciplinary Autism Studies emerged as the first CAS journal in 2012. It ran from 2012 to 2019.[4]
Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture emerged as a CAS journal in 2019. It is still running.[4]One of the editors of this journal, Robert Rozema, says that the journal is a space for dialogue about the field and that CAS as a field should include creative works from autistic individuals.[7]
War on Autism: On the Cultural Logic of Normative Violence is a book on the theoretical work of CAS. It was published in 2016.[4]
Authoring Autism: On Rhetoric and Neurological Queerness is a book on the theoretical work of CAS. It was published in 2018.[4]
All the Weight of Our Dreams: On Living Racialized Autism is a book on the theoretical work of CAS. It was published in 2017.[4]
