ABSTRACT
This chapter explores learning and school experiences of persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnoses is used as an example to discuss possibilities for qualitative, participatory research with diagnosed persons. It presents an overview of the areas which research in ASD has traditionally emphasised and discusses the barriers for more participatory types of investigations. The chapter discusses how participants, both in their willingness to take part in the interview process and through theiroften surprisingresponses regarding learning and school, build a case for the necessity of creating opportunities for diagnosed persons to take an active role in research and development within the field of ASD. As with social justice research, disability studies focuses on the voice of persons with a disability, rather than marginalising them in favor of expert knowledge. The behaviors that elicit a diagnosis are, then, seen as being indicators of a disturbance in the essential social nature that makes us human.
