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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

Neuroqueering Art Therapy: Bringing Neurodivergent Gender Diversity Into The Creative Arts Therapy Room: A Literature Review, Avital Eisen May 2024

Neuroqueering Art Therapy: Bringing Neurodivergent Gender Diversity Into The Creative Arts Therapy Room: A Literature Review, Avital Eisen

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Recent research across disciplines has established the significance of the overlap between neurodivergence and gender diversity, a truth long espoused by the community. Acting on this research, some mental health disciplines have begun addressing neurodivergent transgender and gender diverse people as a unified population in their research, but the field of art therapy has not yet followed suit. Theoretical frameworks of intersectionality, queer theory, and disability justice highlight the importance of centering the unique experiences and needs of neurodivergent gender diversity. Using these frameworks, this literature review synthesizes community knowledge with art therapy research on both neurodivergence and gender diversity, …


Female Autistic Perspectives: Limits In Diagnosis And Understanding, Alexandra Helmers Feb 2018

Female Autistic Perspectives: Limits In Diagnosis And Understanding, Alexandra Helmers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder has increased dramatically within the last two decades, with males being diagnosed, on average, four to five times more than females. Although researchers in the medical community have searched for a biological explanation for this discrepancy, no definitive cause has been found. I argue that our understanding of autism is primarily a social and cultural construction, in addition to a diagnosable medical disorder. The gender disparity in diagnosis reflects cultural narratives surrounding social interaction and the widespread belief in two distinct gender roles. Furthermore, narratives surrounding the topic of autism tend to unintentionally highlight …


Parental Understandings Of The Meaning Of Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asd), Kylara Leyva Jan 2017

Parental Understandings Of The Meaning Of Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asd), Kylara Leyva

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study examines how parents understand autism, their child's behavior and development. Parents can understand their child's behavior and development through a medical model perspective, which sees the childâ??s autism as a series of deficits and deviations. However, a growing number of parents understand their child's behavior and development through a neurodiversity perspective, where a child is seen as having differences in behavior, instead of deficits. Parents' understandings of autism can influence how they see their child's behavior and development and be a driver for seeking diagnosis. In-depth interviews were conducted with parents of children with autism to probe for …