Autism in the US: Social Movement and Legal Change
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2010
ISSN
0098-8588
Publisher
American Society of Law & Medicine
Language
En-US
Abstract
The social movement surrounding autism in the US has been rightly defined a ray of light in the history of social progress. The movement is inspired by a true understanding of neuro-diversity and is capable of bringing about desirable change in political discourse. At several points along the way, however, the legal reforms prompted by the autism movement have been grafted onto preexisting patterns of inequality in the allocation of welfare, education, and medical services. In a context most recently complicated by economic recession, autism-driven change bears the mark of political contingency and legal fragmentation. Distributively, it yields ambivalent results that have not yet received systemic attention. This article aims to fill this analytical vacuum by offering, first, a synoptic view of the several legal transformations brought about or advocated for by the autism movement and, second, a framework for investigating their distributive consequences.
Recommended Citation
Daniela Caruso,
Autism in the US: Social Movement and Legal Change
,
36
American Journal of Law and Medicine
483
(2010).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/571
Working paper version.
Please note the file available on SSRN may not be the final published version of this work.
