ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how linguistic, cultural and socio-political factors combine to frame the construct of autism in France, and in doing so, shape real-world outcomes for the French autistic population. Specifically, it looks at how Cartesianism, Republicanism, and the French language combine to produce an Autism that is markedly different from its Anglo-American equivalent. I intend this not so much as an examination of the situation in France per se, but as an opportunity to hold up a mirror to how these factors combine to shape the identity known as autism in our own cultures. I also see it as an opportunity to question the idea that there is a single, universal representation of autism that’s understood similarly across all cultures, and in particular, to challenge the notion that the only way forward for these societies is to adopt the Anglo-American representation of autism as their own.
Keywords: linguistics, France, identity
