Abstract
This chapter examines how parents of children diagnosed with autism become captured by the notion of the “spectrum of autism.” As people navigate autism services to get assistance for themselves and their children, parents themselves play an important role in activating and reifying the new autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis. The investigation here uses institutional ethnography principles to trace the social relations and text–action sequences in the ASD diagnosis. The authors go on to demonstrate that developments in the ASD diagnosis and treatment are related to larger ruling relations of austerity, neoliberalism, and the increasing financialization of public resources.
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Hande, M.J., Taylor, S., Zorn, E. (2016). Operation ASD: Philanthrocapitalism, Spectrumization, and the Role of the Parent. In: Burstow, B. (eds) Psychiatry Interrogated. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41174-3_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41174-3_5
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