Reflections on Gender and Disability: Women and Girls with Autism

<strong>Centre for the Study of Social Systems School of Social Sciences</strong> CSSS Colloquium <strong>Shubhangi Vaidya</strong> (Associate Professor, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi) Will be presenting a paper on <strong>Reflections on Gender and Disability: Women and Girls with Autism</strong> Date :&nbsp;<strong>October 13th, 2016</strong> <strong>Abstract:&nbsp;</strong>This paper attempts to highlight the interplay of gender, embodiment and social structure through the lens of a feminist disability studies. Specifically, it refers to women and girls with autism. While disability studies have sought to complicate understandings of disability as a social and political category rather than simply a medical condition, feminist scholarship has also drawn attention to the critical role of gender and the body in shaping the experience of disability. Autism has been viewed through a predominantly medical lens over the years; however, the 'neurodiversity' perspective put forward by self-advocates has sought to reposition it as a valid way of being in the world, rather than as a disorder or medical condition. However, in India, where it is still considered a relatively marginal category, the issues and challenges of persons with autism have received scant attention. This paper attempts to engage with the experiences of girls and women with autism, against the backdrop of a patriarchal social structure. It engages with the issues of gender socialization, gender violence, sexuality, reproductive rights and long-term care. The paper highlights the need for sociologically informed research into the gendered dimensions of autism and other developmental conditions in order to better understand the lived experience of disability and difference from a section of society that is underrepresented in the discourse. <strong>Bio:&nbsp;</strong>Shubhangi Vaidya teaches in the School of Interdisciplinary and Trans-disciplinary Studies, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi. She completed her PhD from Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her doctoral research was an ethnographic study of families of children with autism. Her current research interests include disability, gender and labour studies. &nbsp;