ABSTRACT
What do Hans Christian Andersen, Steve Jobs and Marie Curie have in common? They have all been retrospectively diagnosed with autism. This chapter looks beyond the living to consider the diagnosis of those who have died, as well as diagnosis of fictional characters and pets. It argues that psychopathography, fictiography and anthropathology – the forms of diagnosis that occur outside the clinic – tell us more about our era, our age of diagnosis, than about those who have been diagnosed. As the types of human (and non-humans) that the diagnostic label is applied to has extended and morphed, so have the ways in which diagnosis is wielded and by whom. Outside-the-clinic diagnosis bolsters the rise of autism by extending the language of diagnosis and building the understanding that autism diagnosis is universal.
