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A study of youth with autism spectrum engagement to improve one’s own educational situation

autism as culture intercultural education community involvement

According to the cultural model of disability, people on the autism spectrum have their own culture. Its representatives believe that all symptoms of autistic disorders, which the medical model considers pathology, may be reinterpreted as natural differences, a different (not pathological) developmental pattern. Autism affects ways people think, eat, dress, work, spend leisure time, understand natural phenomena etc. The role that a teacher of a person with autism should play is similar to that of a cross-cultural interpreter: someone who understands both cultures and is able to translate the expectations and rules of the non-autistic environment to a person with autism. Meanwhile, in the Polish school, most of the attention is focused on the child’s deficits, the organization of various forms of assistance, and attempts to adapt atypical students to a school environment tailored for typical children. Such a perception of students with different needs prompts actions aimed at improving and leveling these characteristics that distinguish them – de facto “elimination of culture”. The educational situation for children and youth with autism is not favorable. They experience discrimination, and social and cultural exclusion, in both “special” and “mainstream” schools.

Wydawnictwo Naukowe EDUsfera

ISSN 2082-9019 e-ISSN 2300-5866

10.34616/wwr.2022.2.299.313

Wychowanie w Rodzinie, T. 27 (2022/2)

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Biblioteka Instytutu Pedagogiki UWr