What is autism?

Date

07 nov 2025 15:20 - 16:00

[ ONLINE ]

Online conference by Will Mandy, Professor of Neurodevelopmental Disorders in the Psychology Division at University College London and fellow in one-month writing residency at the Paris IAS for the month of November 2025, as part of the ‘Paris IAS Ideas’ series.

The ‘Paris IAS Ideas’ online conference series offers short, stimulating presentations by researchers from the Paris Institute for Advanced Study, marking the start of their one-month writing residency.

Session exclusively online and in English.
Free upon registration.
Registration is required via the form at the bottom of the page to receive the connection link.

Presentation

Autism, as a concept and clinical phenomenon, is currently undergoing dramatic changes, driven by an interaction between scientific discoveries and social changes. In this context of kaleidoscopic transformation, there is no consensus on how to answer the question "what is autism? ‘, which means that there is also no consistent answer to the question ’who is autistic?". This research contributes to efforts to arrive at a common definition of autism that is meaningful to autistic people, the professionals who seek to help them, and society as a whole. To this end, the project examines two major approaches to defining autism. The first is the medical model, based on realist epistemology, which posits that autism is a brain disorder that can be accurately observed and identified, provided there is sufficient empirical evidence. The second is the neurodiversity approach, based on phenomenology, which emphasises autism as a social identity. The aim is to present the implications of these different ways of understanding autism and to explore the potential for integrating them.

By approaching the question 'what is autism? ", this project can contribute to contemporary debates on various issues: Who decides who is autistic? How legitimate is self-identification in the absence of a clinical diagnosis? Is autism one thing or many? Why is the diagnosed prevalence of autism continuing to increase?

Séances
07 November 2025, 15:00 - 15:40

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