ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the constitution of subjectivity in the so called "autism wars", which have pitted parents of autistic children seeking access to treatment/therapy against those who are more interested in advancing a notion of autism that frees it from the straitjacket of being viewed as a crippling disability. It thinks about the significance of autism to the field of health and disability, and about the struggles over how to conceptualize the autistic subject in these discourses. In the case of autistic children, it is their parents, in particular their mothers, who have been the most vocal. The chapter situates autism in some politico-legal context, drawing on a 2004 Supreme Court of Canada decision as a springboard to discuss the constitution and framing of autistic subjectivity. It analyses autistic and autism activism through the prism of "biological citizenship", a notion first developed in Adriana Petryna's life exposed and expanded upon by Nikolas Rose and Carlos Novas-2005 and Rose-2006.
