Autism, Medical Misogyny, and the Politics of Embodied Difference

CLASS DESCRIPTION

What does it mean to ‘behave normally’, to have a ‘normal mind’, or ‘normal body’?

Since its conception, autism has been defined and diagnosed through European, male-centred, psychiatric frameworks. From early diagnostic criteria developed primarily through research on (white, affluent, European) boys and men, to theories such as the ‘extreme male brain theory’: the standard against which autistic people have been assessed has often been implicitly male.

The session foregrounds embodied experiences – pain, fatigue, sensory distress, menstruation, menopause – and asks what happens when these realities meet a medical system historically inclined to minimise or psychologise women’s suffering. It also considers how autistic people whose lives or embodiments fall outside stereotypical male presentations – including many women, trans and non-binary individuals – navigate diagnostic frameworks shaped by rigid ideas of gender, and how autistic women of colour face compounded forms of erasure. Attention will be given to autism as a category largely produced in the Global North, raising questions about who it includes and who it leaves out.

Drawing on feminist theory and neurodiversity-affirming perspectives, the lecture invites participants to rethink neurotype as an embodied way of being in the world that is shaped by power and interpreted through gendered expectations. Attendees will come away with a deeper understanding of how medical categories are produced, how gender shapes recognition, and how the concept of the ‘normal’ body-mind is sustained.

ABOUT OUR LECTURER

Dr Gemma Williams is an autistic academic researcher, author and public speaker focussed on improving autistic and neurodivergent people's quality of life.

Originally trained as an English language teacher and a linguist, Gemma’s research interests have extended to more social justice-related issues, including: autistic people’s experiences of loneliness, barriers to healthcare for neurodivergent people, neurodivergence and homelessness, the sensory environments of public spaces, neurodivergent sensory processing, autistic experiences of reproductive health and autistic flow states.

Gemma is a Honorary Visiting Lecturer at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) at the University of Sussex, a Teaching Fellow in Psychology at Portsmouth University, a member of the Westminster Commission on Autism and an Associate Member of the Heasman Flow Lab (York St John University).

Her first book 'Understanding Others in a Neurodiverse World’, was published by Pavilion Press in 2024, and her second book, 'English Language Teaching in a Neurodiverse World' was published by Pavilion ELT in Spring 2026.

SUBSTACK: https://neurodiverseuniverse.substack.com/
LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-gemma-williams/
WEBSITE: https://www.drgemmawilliams.com/

We are committed to making our sessions as accessible as possible. If you are unable to pay the full amount for this class, please reach out to us via email at [email protected] and we will provide you with a discount code.