A Mismatch of Salience brings together a range of Damian Milton's writings that span more than a decade. The book explores the communication and understanding difficulties that can create barriers between people on the autism spectrum and neurotypical people. It celebrates diversity in communication styles and human experience by re framing the view that autistic people represent a `disordered other' not as an impairment, but a two-way mismatch of salience. It also looks at how our current knowledge has been created by non-autistic people on the `outside', looking in. A Mismatch of Salience attempts to redress this balance.
Damian's interest in autism began when his son was diagnosed in 2005 as autistic at the age of two. Damian was also diagnosed with Asperger's in 2009 at the age of 36. Thanks to Damian's ability to present his views and insights from `inside' the autism spectrum so clearly, he is able to challenge many of the ideas held by society. Damian works part-time for the National Autistic Society (NAS) as Head of Autism Knowledge and Expertise (Adults and Community) and sits on the scientific and advisory committee for Research Autism. Damian currently teaches on the MA Education (Autism) programme at London South Bank University and is a consultant for the Transform Autism Education (TAE) project. In 2017 Damian joined the Tizard Centre, University of Kent as a part-time Lecturer to coincide with his work for the NAS.
Contents include: Part one: This thing called autism So what exactly is autism? `Problems in living' and the mental well-being of autistic people Natures answer to over-conformity: a deconstruction of pathological demand avoidance Impaired compared to what? Embodiment and diversity Part two: A mismatch of salience On the Ontological Status of Autism: the `Double Empathy Problem' Embodied sociality and the conditioned relativism of dispositional diversity Autistic expertise: a critical reflection on the production of knowledge in autism studies Part three: From theory to practice `Filling in the gaps', a micro-sociological analysis of autism So what exactly are autism interventions intervening with? Tracing the influence of Fernand Deligny on autism studies 7 concepts of sociological interest Part four: Participation Autistics speak but are they heard? Moments in time Aut-ethnography: working from the inside out How is a sense of well-being and belonging constructed in the accounts of autistic adults? Educational discourse and the autistic student: a study using Q-sort methodology (thesis summary)
