Last Chance!! DRF Event 8! June 6th join Kerri Betts and Susy Ridout for their talks: "Towards Voluntary Visibility: A New Generation of Autism Narratives?" and "Neurodivergent Inertia or Neurotypical Barriers? A Critical Perspective on the Inclusion of Neurodivergent Voices in Recovery from Gender-Based Violence."

wheelieanacademic

Jun 4

Time: 1-3pm

To register: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/drf-seminar-series-20212022-event-8-tickets-339781785467

Talk 1, Title: Towards Voluntary Visibility: A New Generation of Autism Narratives?

Talk 1, Abstract:

How can we consider a text to be an autism narrative if it never actually mentions autism? How can we come to appreciate difference and disability when it may not be labelled as such? This paper asserts that considering these two questions in conversation with one another invites us to reflect on the double bind that autistic communities find themselves in: Make your care needs visible and have assumptions made about your abilities and capacities/ Mask your difficulties and be accused of not needing the appropriate care.

I build on Foucault's notion of 'compulsory visibility' to construct my own 'voluntary visibility' to highlight how refusing to be immediately available or performatively transparent is a form of resistance. Of course, the importance of identity, labels and diagnoses can only be decided by the individual themselves and this paper does not aim to undermine the importance of this within self-advocacy and autistic culture, it simply aims to reframe the value of this disclosure being a choice rather than the only means of accessing care and inclusion.

Through Katherine May's recent memoir Wintering I examine how the narrative reorients focus on the environment and dependency. As an autistic author, May's writing is undeniably informed by her autistic perspective yet upon first reading, autism is absent from the text entirely. I explore how, in discussing the themes that orbit autism rather than autism directly, May demands that readers reconsider how they perceive disability by destabilising ideas of rugged independence towards a community of interdependence.

Talk 2, Title: Neurodivergent Inertia or Neurotypical Barriers? A Critical Perspective on the Inclusion of Neurodivergent Voices in Recovery from Gender-Based Violence.

Talk 2, Abstract: (Suzy has requested a Trigger Warning for this talk – issues of rape will be discussed)

This talk address a number of critical issues which highlight why the voices of neurodivergent victim-survivors of gender-based violence often go unheard. Matters impacting on neurodivergent individuals generally can be seen to be different in many ways to those impacting on the predominant neurotype. This is even more the case when gender-based violence and trauma form part of the narrative.

Taking a critical look at some of the key issues informing this agenda, Dr Ridout will highlight barriers neurodivergent individuals experience which lead to the absence of their voices in debates around recovery. The presentation comes from an insider perspective, as Dr Ridout is a neurodivergent victim-survivor of gender-based violence. It highlights pertinent aspects, such as disclosure, agency and inclusion, in relation to neurodivergent survivors more generally and weaves throughout the presentation some concerns that have impacted her recovery pathway.

Biography

Dr Susy Ridout joined Oxford Brookes University as an Associate Lecturer in the School of Architecture, Faculty of Technology, Design and the Environment in September 2019. She has spent over a decade supporting and tutoring neurodivergent and disabled students. Central to her work are the identification of communication preferences and methods to locate neurodivergent voices and those of victim-survivors to the fore in research, services and debate. Through a wide range of publications and practice, Susy has brought insider expertise to her work on Autism and Mental Wellbeing in Higher Education and Neurodiversity, Autism and Recovery from Sexual Violence. This is critical at a time where prevalence of gender-based violence and a failure to bring perpetrators to account are at an all-time high. Within this narrative, there is a glaring omission of neurodivergent voices, and, it is argued that as a neurodivergent survivor, Susy's involvement is well-placed to look critically at issues behind this agenda.

Susy has previously held a number of teaching roles in Cuba (dance), Spain (English) and the UK (English, Neurodiversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing).

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