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SUMMARY:Autism in Children's Fiction - Dr Shalini Vohra\, Sheffield Hallam
  University
DTSTART:20180606T160000Z
DTEND:20180606T173000Z
UID:TALK106579@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lucian Stephenson
DESCRIPTION:Many people who do not personally know anyone with autism will
  have read about it in a novel and that novel’s vision of autism both cr
 eates and perpetuates stereotypes about autistic individuals (Loftis\, 201
 5). However fiction can also work against stereotypes and create empathy (
 Bal and Veltkamp\, 2013\; Parsons\, 2013) but this requires inclusive appr
 oaches where those who have been marginalised are included in the research
  (Leavy\, 2015) and the accounts produced by autistic individuals are focu
 sed upon (Murray\, 2008). Taking the example of _M is for Autism_\, writte
 n collaboratively by 72 autistic girls with their creative writing tutor\,
  I will examine the key features of autism that emerge and review them wit
 h regard to perpetuating or deconstructing key autistic stereotypes (Lofti
 s\, 2015\; Murray\, 2008) that have been a feature of foundational literar
 y works.\n\n*Dr Shalini Vohra* is a Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam Un
 iversity and researching the representation of autism in children’s  fic
 tion. Her discussions with autistic young people\, autistic adults\, paren
 ts\, school teachers\, authors and publishers\, identified lack of autisti
 c representation as an issue and collaborative writing with autistic child
 ren and young people as a potential way forward. Her research has featured
  on The Conversation\, and she has presented her work at the AHRC connecte
 d communities conference at UEA\, as well as the Sheffield Institute of ed
 ucation.\n
LOCATION:Faculty of Education\, 184 Hills Road\, Cambridge CB2 8PQ\, room 
 GS5
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