Seeing and inviting participation in autistic interactions.

This paper suggests we need to change how we view autism and social interactions. Instead of focusing on what autistic people can't do, we should recognize their social skills and understand that interaction difficulties involve everyone, not just autistic people. The author proposes a new way of thinking that respects differences and helps everyone participate better in social situations.

This theoretical paper proposes a new framework for understanding autistic social interactions, moving away from deficit-based models toward an 'enactive theory of participatory sense-making.' The author argues that research demonstrates autistic people possess sophisticated interaction skills that are often overlooked when viewed through a deficit lens. The paper emphasizes that social interaction difficulties can involve both autistic and non-autistic participants, not just autistic individuals. Drawing on indigenous epistemologies and lived experiences, the framework promotes an 'engaged epistemology' that recognizes and respects neurodiversity rather than attempting to erase differences, as critiqued in global mental health approaches.

The framework suggests moving toward interaction-focused interventions that recognize autistic social competencies and involve all participants. This could inform development of more respectful, culturally-sensitive approaches that build on strengths rather than targeting deficits. However, empirical validation of this theoretical framework would be needed.

This appears to be a theoretical/conceptual paper rather than an empirical study. No specific research methods, sample characteristics, or quantitative findings are reported. The abstract does not provide details about the research evidence cited to support the proposed framework.

What does it take to see how autistic people participate in social interactions? And what does it take to support and invite more participation? Western medicine and cognitive science tend to think of autism mainly in terms of social and communicative deficits. But research shows that autistic people can interact with a skill and sophistication that are hard to see when starting from a deficit idea.

Research also shows that not only autistic people, but also their non-autistic interaction partners, can have difficulties interacting with each other. To do justice to these findings, we need a different approach to autistic interactions-one that helps everyone see, invite, and support better participation. I introduce such an approach, based on the enactive theory of participatory sense-making and supported by insights from indigenous epistemologies. This approach helps counteract the homogenizing tendencies of the "global mental health" movement, which attempts to erase rather than recognize difference, and often precludes respectful engagements.

Based in the lived experiences of people in their socio-cultural-material and interactive contexts, I put forward an engaged-even engag-epistemology for understanding how we interact across difference. From this perspective, we see participatory sense-making at work across the scientific, diagnostic, therapeutic, and everyday interactions of autistic and non-autistic people, and how everyone can invite and support more of it.