ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with conceptions of autism in which medical protocols, involved in the diagnosis, become instrumental in reproducing and maintaining an ableist culture and pathologising ideology that permeates children’s identities, postponing their humanity and potential prospects. Drawing on the findings from a qualitative study involving 16 children with diagnoses of autism, their mothers and fathers, in an Italian context (Bernardi, 2019), the author unpacks the discourses of scrutiny and blame that emerge consistently in mothers’ narratives, signalling dehumanising and disabling practices in which both, childhood and motherhood become enmeshed. A Gramscian perspective is used to shine a light on the hierarchical positions that are maintained in medical proceedings and contexts, producing practices of control disguised in language as rigour. Conversely, the analysis also shows that the relational nature of the interviews – in the study – offered an affirmative space in which mothers began to recognise, articulate and counter marginalisation, ableism and social distinctions.
Keywords: ableism, autism, diagnosis, Gramsci, humanity, ideology
