HomeTaking Account of Concerned People in the Production and Analysis of Gendered Representations of Autism

Taking Account of Concerned People in the Production and Analysis of Gendered Representations of Autism

Prendre en compte les concerné·e·s dans la production et l’analyse des représentations genrées de l’autisme

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Published on Monday, May 11, 2026

Abstract

Français English

The conference is dedicated to gendered representations of autism in fiction and aims to broaden the reflection to include international research perspectives, alternative forms of research writing and creation beyond the academic world. It specifically examines how concerned people are considered in the production and analysis of gendered representations of autism in fiction. As such, it is open to proposals that help to decompartmentalize the production of knowledge and representations (experiential narratives, activist knowledge, documentary, artistic or literary creation, etc.).

Announcement

English Français

The AuFic Project

The project studies how autistic characters are represented in works of fiction disseminated in France and how these representations are received by autistic people themselves. While they tend to reproduce the restrictive image of a male autistic genius, gradually replacing the association between autism and intellectual disability, we are also witnessing a diversification of these models, following transnational dynamics for the recognition of autistic women and autistic people concerned by gender and sexual diversity.

To study this renewal of gendered representations of autism in fiction, the project is structured around three strands:

  • a sociohistorical analysis of fictions disseminated in France that feature at least one explicitly autistic character;
  • a reception study based on in-depth interviews with autistic people, asked about the relationship between their lived experience of gender and their engagement with different fictional worlds;
  • and finally, the analysis of a corpus of fictional productions with autistic characters created by autistic people themselves.

Conference Theme and Axes

The renewed perspective on autism through the lens of neurodiversity is today supported by a set of emerging studies, both internationally and in France (Bagatell, 2010; Dachez, 2016), which contribute to shifting the dominant frameworks for understanding autism. Some of these works have focused more specifically on highlighting the gendered dimension of knowledge about autism (Price, 2022). On the one hand, they have shown how the frameworks for identifying, diagnosing and recognizing autism are constructed based on gender norms, contributing to the invisibilisation of autistic girls and women (Davidson, 2008; Jack, 2012). On the other hand, they have brought to light the ways in which these dominant definitions, and the categories through which they have been thought, have contributed to marginalizing people situated at the intersection of autism and sexual and gender diversity (Laflamme and Chamberland, 2020; Bornstein, 2022; Shapira and Granek, 2019). In this context, neuroqueer approaches to autism, developed by autistic and queer researchers drawing on the epistemology of situated knowledges (Haraway, 2007; Harding, 2003; Hartsock, 1998), question the place of concerned persons in the updating of knowledge. By emphasizing the power relations that run through the production of knowledge on autism, these approaches invite us to pay attention to the forms of normalization, assignment and exclusion reproduced by certain approaches, while reaffirming the capacity of concerned persons themselves to produce forms of intelligibility of their trajectories and narratives (in the United States: Egner, 2018; Richter, 2017; Walker, 2023; Yergeau, 2018; and in France: Coville and Lallet, 2023).

These questions find particularly fertile ground in the study of cultural productions. A number of studies have examined representations of autism in the media (Chamak, 2015a; Dean and Nordahl-Hansen, 2021; Draaisma, 2009; Groner, 2012; Loftis, 2015; Matthews, 2019; Murray, 2008; Poe and Moseley, 2016) and their gendered dimension (Jack, 2014; McHugh, 2018; Primerano, 2023; Tharian et al., 2019), while others have highlighted the ways in which these representations are received, reappropriated and discussed by audiences (Lopéra-Mármol and Malet, 2022; Lallet, 2026). Fiction – whether literature, cinema, TV series, video games or online amateur writing - plays a particular role here, insofar as it contributes to the making of social imaginaries of autism. The representations and imaginaries produced may thus reproduce certain stereotypes, naturalise certain gender norms or flatten the richness of lived realities; but they may also, depending on the contexts of production, circulation and reception, offer emancipatory potentialities that contribute to the recognition of autistic people.

It is from this tension that this conference proposes to examine the place concerned people in the production and analysis of gendered representations of autism in fiction. It seeks to welcome proposals that analyze these representations through the power relations that traverse them, as well as the contexts in which they are produced and circulate. Proposals must imperatively address the place of concerned people in the production of gendered representations of autism in fiction. They may fall within one or several of the axes identified below, or propose an original angle related to the theme of the conference.

1. Intersectional Approaches

As work on intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1997) and feminist disability studies (Garland-Thompson, 2004) continues to develop, neurodiversity is gradually being thought of as an element to be considered in articulation with categories of class, gender or race (Strand, 2017). In doing so, intersectional approaches enrich the social model of disability (Abberley, 1987; Albrecht, Ravaud and Stiker, 2001; Barton and Oliver, 1997; Goodley, 2017), notably by showing that experiences of autism cannot be apprehended independently of the other forms of domination and social relations that traverse them. Such a perspective invites us to analyze representations of autism and their productions from a similar perspective.

Proposals may therefore analyze how representations of autism are articulated with other social relations and thus reveal plural forms of domination: ableism or capacitism, sexism, racism, heteronormativity, cisgenderism, ageism or adult domination, classism, etc. Particular attention may be paid to the ways in which certain cultural productions represent characters (or experiences) that seem to break with stereotypical figures of autism, while reproducing other forms of invisibilisation or hierarchization. Indeed, although some representations appear more sensitive to disability, they continue to push racialized, queer or working-class characters to the margins (Aspler et al., 2022).

An intersectional perspective, however, invites us not to limit the analysis to representational content alone. In the field of cultural studies, it also leads us to question the conditions of production, circulation and legitimization of works, as well as the positions from which they are developed (Corrêa, 2020). Applied to fictions dealing with autism, such an approach makes it possible to question not only who is represented, but also the inequalities that structure the modes of production themselves: who can access these spaces, how can one make one’s point of view heard there, and how can one’s experience be recognized as legitimate? In this sense, the analysis of representations benefits from being articulated with the analysis of the conditions of their production and reception. Proposals may thus focus both on mainstream productions and on cultural productions developed from the margins, if they make it possible to question the power relations that structure their elaboration, circulation and recognition.

Whatever axis is prioritised, it will be particularly appreciated that the gendered dimension of autism be articulated with other dimensions (sexuality, disability, social class, race, age, etc.). Axis 1 may welcome proposals for which this intersectional dimension is central, whether from an epistemological or methodological point of view, or through the object studied. Beyond the relevance of considering, globally and systematically, a set of articulated power relations, proposals adopting a specific underexplored focus are particularly welcome (e.g. gendered representations of older autistic people; those of racialized autistic people; or the intersection between autism and other disabilities).

2. International Perspectives

Since the AuFic project is centered on fictions available in France and their reception by autistic people in this country, we wish to open the conference to international comparisons. The aim is to examine how fictional representations of autism unfold in different national, linguistic and cultural contexts, but also to grasp how conceptualizations of autism - medical, activist and ordinary - vary according to geographical and cultural contexts and thereby influence its fictionalization (de Leeuw, Happé and Hoekstra, 2020). Proposals may also highlight similarities with the French case, insofar as many available fictional representations of autism circulate within the framework of productions from globalized cultural industries or online platforms that are themselves transnational (e.g. Netflix series; fanfictions on Wattpad, etc.).

Proposals may thus focus on the ways in which representations of autism are transformed when they circulate between different national, linguistic or media spaces. Attention may, for example, be paid to the shifts, reformulations and reappropriations to which they are subject depending on the context. The international adaptations of the series The Good Doctor and their comparison, for instance, make it possible to reveal how the same fiction centered on an autistic character can give rise to significantly different treatments of autism and of the gender roles associated with it, depending on the cultural contexts in which it is adapted and disseminated (Yücel, Karademir Arun and Bozkurt, 2025). Proposals may also address fictional productions from national contexts that remain little explored in the Francophone literature, even though they could enrich reflections by foregrounding their similarities and specificities. For example, works devoted to the Korean series Extraordinary Attorney Woo invite us to examine the different forms of capacitism staged in the fiction, which are closely linked to its context of production (Biasini and Subarman, 2023). Similarly, manga constitute types of productions that have been little analyzed, even though they include varied representations of autism

(Okuyama, 2020) and their circulation has helped to make visible in Japan life trajectories that long remained “unacceptable” (Bryce et al., 2014).

Finally, proposals may also examine the transnational circulations of the categories and interpretive frameworks of autism present in fiction. Based on the Russian and Japanese cases, Ovcharenko and Shinomiya (2025) show that the principles of neurodiversity are not mechanically transposed from one space to another and in fact come up against linguistic, cultural and political contexts that condition their reception. Their analysis thus invites us to decenter Western-centric frameworks of neurodiversity and to pay closer attention to the voices and practices through which neurodiversities are made visible otherwise.

3. Decompartmentalising the Analysis and Production of Representations

Axis 3 aims to open the conference program to proposals situated within alternative forms of research writing, research-creation, or voices from outside the academic world (experiential or activist knowledge, artistic and literary creation). In addition to questioning the place of concerned people in the production and analysis of gendered representations of autism, the aim here is to highlight practices, works and/or devices that participate in the alternative production of gendered representations of autism, developed by concerned people themselves or in close collaboration with them.

In line with feminist reflections on situated knowledges (Haraway, 2007; Harding, 2003; Hartsock, 1998), this axis thus seeks to grant a substantial place to productions by concerned persons and to what they offer as forms of intelligibility, critique and transformation of dominant representations. The aim is to decompartmentalize analyses by questioning both the hierarchies that separate academic knowledge from experiential knowledge, and those that unequally distribute the legitimacy of cultural productions themselves, with some fictions being more readily recognized as worthy of analysis than others, which are relegated to the rank of testimony or amateur production. This axis may therefore welcome proposals on works or devices in which concerned people are not simply objects of representation but also, and above all, actors in their creation, development, analysis or circulation.

The interventions proposed within this axis are invited to move away from the classical format of the scientific paper to propose a device that makes it possible to produce, show or discuss creations during the conference, or to involve non-academic actors and the public. Workshops, performances, exhibitions, screening-discussions, plays, storytelling, readings, round tables, etc. may thus be envisaged, for example. Attention will be paid to proposals that make it possible to rethink ways of producing, sharing or legitimizing knowledge on gendered representations of autism.

Submission Guidelines

Proposals may take the form of a scientific paper, workshops or performances, accompanied by a text with a view to producing a collective volume following the conference (see submission guidelines at the end of the call).

Proposals written in French or English should be sent by email to the three conference organizers (melanie.lallet@yahoo.fr; yarmangau@uco.fr; maritremblay2000@hotmail.com) according to the following schedule :

  • Monday 8 June 2026: a synthetic proposal including a title, the chosen axis or axes, a 500–800-word rationale and a short biography. Authors should specify whether their proposal is for a traditional scientific paper (in which case, please include a few bibliographical references) or another format (in which case, please include any appendix deemed useful for understanding the proposed device). Proposals will be peer-reviewed by the scientific committee under double anonymity.
  • Wednesday 1 July 2026: response to authors regarding the acceptance status of their proposal.
  • Thursday 1 October 2026: For those proposing a traditional scientific paper: submission of a 10,000–15,000character text, preparatory to the development of a post-conference chapter. For others: submission of a note that may be shorter, taking the form of a long summary of the presentation/device. For all participants, texts may take the form of notes and will be transmitted to session moderators to enrich the discussion.
  • Monday 1 February 2027: submission of a complete 30,000-character chapter, for inclusion in the collective volume after review.

Organisation

  • Mélanie Lallet (CHUS, UCO), 
  • Yael Armangau (CHUS-UCO, LISST-UT2J), 
  • Marianne Tremblay (McGill University)

Scientific Committee

  • Yael Armangau (CHUS-UCO, LISST-UT2J)
  • Stéfany Boisvert (UQAM)
  • Sandra Hamiche (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Irméccen, membre AuFic)
  • Mélanie Lallet (CHUS, UCO)
  • Marine Malet (Université de Bergen)
  • William Mckenzie (UCO, CHUS, membre AuFic)
  • Christine Thoër (UQAM)
  • Marianne Tremblay (McGill University)
  • Alexis Trépier (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Irméccen, membre AuFic) (to be completed)

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Places

  • Bâtiment Maison de la recherche - Université Toulouse 2 Jean-Jaurès
    Toulouse, France (31)

Event attendance modalities

Hybrid event (on site and online)


Date(s)

  • Monday, June 08, 2026

Contact(s)

  • Mélanie Lallet
    courriel : melanie [dot] lallet [at] yahoo [dot] fr
  • Yael Armangau
    courriel : yarmangau [at] uco [dot] fr
  • Marianne Tremblay
    courriel : maritremblay2000 [at] hotmail [dot] com

Information source

  • Yael Armangau
    courriel : yarmangau [at] uco [dot] fr

License

CC-BY-4.0 This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons - Attribution 4.0 International - CC BY 4.0 .

To cite this announcement

Mélanie Lallet, Yael Armangau, Marianne Tremblay, « Taking Account of Concerned People in the Production and Analysis of Gendered Representations of Autism », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Monday, May 11, 2026, https://doi.org/10.58079/1675u

Author(s)

Mélanie Lallet

Yael Armangau

Marianne Tremblay

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