Abstract
Set in the context of sexual violence perpetrated against neurodivergent women on the autism spectrum, this paper explores how language, context, and power wielded by some outsiders to our experiences have a huge potential to skew our narratives. Practitioners are critical to our support and care, so the language that they use in order to facilitate this is crucial. It can be argued that a support agenda offered should be bespoke and negotiated with the victim-survivor. The position argued by the author is that current support packages are frequently ineffective as neurodivergent victim-survivors are packaged as part of a homogenous group. This has rendered it more difficult to access key services as language used to frame her utilised by practitioners on multiple occasions has been unacceptable. This has placed and continues to place barriers in the way of accessing support and care. The intersections of her identities have been denigrated on numerous occasions to this effect resulting in enormous anxiety around talking to any practitioner. Using language and examples from key points throughout her recovery, the author demonstrates how barriers are placed in the way of essential and meaningful communication. The implication of this paper is to highlight how education around sexual health, consent, and healthy discourse around sexual behaviours is essential and discussion at all levels is critical to understanding how society permits attitudes to prevail. Ultimately, we should be able to call out bad practice.
Presenters
Susy RidoutA/L Neurodiversity and Inclusion, TDE, Oxford Brookes University, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
ENVIRONMENTS, SEXUAL VIOLENCE, NEURODIVERSITY, AUTISM, IDENTITIES
