Autistics in (Educational) Space: Building our own futures

Abstract

Autistic students in inclusive classrooms are often judged by their in/ability to adhere to neurotypical norms while affordances they create to survive and succeed often go unacknowledged. An affordance describes a sociomaterial approach by an individual to increase the number of possible actions available to them when in environments where their presence was not anticipated and when that environment is passively or actively hostile to their participation. I, an autistic teacher, student, and researcher, led a participatory research study of affordances with four autistic adults who attended secondary schools in Ontario, Canada. We ask, how can public, inclusive secondary schooling be improved by better understanding and responding to autistic affordances? In response, our study develops and critically evaluates new research methods. These methods challenge conventional qualitative research forms by actively recognising and embracing autistic ways of being, learning and relating. The methods are cultural probes (physical items and tasks participants respond to), shared reading (reading a novel and meeting one-on-one to discuss how it reflected the participants’ life) and speculative fiction and world building (a collaborative writing exercise involving an imaginary future).

Thematic analysis of the cultural probes data reveals affordances of over/under-achieving and hyper-empathy. Participants were unsupported/misunderstood when they needed help, and all appeared to experience extraordinary empathy (especially for other autistic people). Data from the shared reading of Sønderby’s 2017 science fiction novel Failure to Communicate highlights affordances associated with responses to autism, education, identity, and others. In speculative fiction and world building, participants rejected approaches to adding inclusivity to existing school structures and created a world where autistic people together create futurities where acceptance of differences is foundational to society. Many affordances relate to resisting school structures systematically misrecognising autistic ways-of-being, worldviews, and futurities.