Articulating Sensory Sensitivity: From Bodies with Autism to Autistic Bodies

ABSTRACT

Drawing on ethnographic evidence from several communities of autistic adults in the UK, I explore the crucial role of the body and the senses in the enactment of autistic subjectivities. Following their initiation into autism-related social groups, members begin using such concepts as triggers, overload, shutdown, and meltdown to refer to their bodily experiences of distress. They then face the task of investing these ambiguous concepts with meaning, through nurturing an increased awareness to their body’s relationship with its material surrounding. This cultivation of sensitivity ultimately culminates in the transformation of their bodies into what might be termed autistic bodies.

KEYWORDS:

• UK
• autism
• body
• language
• senses
• sensitivity

Notes

1. According to Mol, ontological politics “has to do with the way in which problems are framed, bodies are shaped, and lives are pushed and pulled into one shape or another” (Mol 2002:viii).

2. My focus on experiences of distress should not be read as a statement concerning the predominance of negative sensations over positive ones. People on the autism spectrum certainly experience joy and pleasure as well; yet the work they do to articulate these sorts of experiences follows a somewhat different logic, and will remain outside the scope of this current article.

3. Yergeau points out that the term “autie-ethnography” was coined by Rose (2005) “to describe the rich oeuvre of activist life writing produced by autistic people” (Yergeau 2013). For a recent analysis of this literary genre, see Van Goidsenhoven (2017).

4. By her preference and with her permission, Nattily is cited by her actual pen name.

5. Graphics Interchange Format (represented by the acronym GIF) is a graphic format which, among other uses, enables the display of short animation sequences.

6. Victoria features centrally in a previously published article by the author (Belek 2015).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Wyse Fund; The Kenneth Lindsay Scholarship Award; The Ling Roth Fund.

Notes on contributors

Ben Belek

Ben Belek, PhD, is postdoctoral research fellow at the Martin Buber Society of Fellows at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He holds a PhD from the Division of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. His project focuses on questions concerning subjectivity, identity, and community among autistic adults in the UK.