Neuroqueer Heresies: Critiquing ‘tame autistics’

As an autistic and queer student and an acting librarian for young people, I’m interested in how autistic people are portrayed in children’s and Young Adult literature.

I’m especially interested in the idea of an “Autistic Book Club” that would engage with ways that autistic people are portrayed and the implications that they present for autistic people’s lived experiences. So I was intrigued by a statement by Nick Walker, author of Neuroqueer Heresies, regarding the curriculum for a course on autism.

As part of the “guiding principles” for creating such a course, Walker stated that “At least 80% of the assigned readings should be by autistic authors” (p. 546). Walker went on to add, however, that works by “tame autistics” couldn’t count toward this percentage.

According to Walker, these authors tend to perpetuate “pathologizing narratives” about autism (p. 547). If the course included perspectives by any “tame autistics,” these materials should only be approached with the “explicit intent” of critiquing these authors’ “internalized oppression” (p. 547).

Walker defined “tame autistics” by a variety of characteristics.

“[T]hey are “white; they are heterosexual, asexual, and/or fairly closeted about their sexuality; they grew up fairly affluent and have never faced extreme poverty or homelessness; they are highly capable of oral speech; they are ableist, and have no problem with pathologizing non-speaking autistics or other autistics who are significantly more disabled than themselves; they regard disability as shameful and tend to avoid describing themselves as disabled; they rarely contradict non-autistic ‘autism experts’ or ableist autism organizations run by non-autistic people; they have few (if any) close autistic friends and have never been deeply involved in the radical activist autistic culture and communities from which the Neurodiversity Movement emerged; they have appropriated the term ‘neurodiversity’ now that it’s becoming a well-known buzzword, but their thinking remains rooted in the pathology paradigm” (pp. 542-544).

According to Walker, two “best-known” examples of “tame autistics” are Temple Grandin and John Elder Robison (p. 544).

I agree with Walker that autistic people’s perspectives must be central to a course on autism, as they should when compiling the reading list for an Autistic Book Club. But I was floored by Walker’s expression of what appeared to be prejudice on the basis of sexual orientation.

Recall from the quote above that in matters of sexual orientation, Walker described “tame autistics” as being “heterosexual, asexual, and/or fairly closeted about their sexuality” (p. 542). But asexuality falls under the queer umbrella, and an “About the Author” statement (p. 8) described Walker as being a “queer, transgender, flamingly autistic writer and educator.” Why was someone who identified as queer attacking people who were also part of the LGBTQIA+ community?

Setting aside the fact that Walker’s statement seemed like a vast overgeneralization, nothing about a person’s sexual orientation has anything to do with the other characteristics or attitudes that Walker criticized. And as far as being closeted, a person may not have the psychological safety to feel that they can “come out of the closet.” By conflating an asexual orientation with these other attitudes, Walker is unfairly maligning an already-marginalized queer identity.

References:
Walker, N. (2021). Neuroqueer heresies: Notes on the neurodiversity paradigm, autistic empowerment, and postnormal possibilities. Autonomous Press.

Citations are from an eBook, accessed on the Hoopla platform. Pagination will vary depending on font and size of text.