Delivered online to the MCPHS University Center for Health Humanities on Thursday, January 26, 2023
Doug Maynard is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of
Wisconsin—Madison. He researches social interaction from the perspective of
ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. He has studied interaction in many
settings—everyday life, legal arenas, clinical settings, and others, publishing
in a variety of sociological, legal, and medical journals. He is co-author of
Autistic Intelligence: Interaction, Individuality, and the Challenges of
Diagnosis (University of Chicago Press, 2022).
This talk reports on recorded observations of the process of diagnosing
autism and communicating diagnostic findings to family members. It will explore
how the diagnostic process can go beyond just sorting out who fits the
diagnostic criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to discover and
highlight the unique contributions autistic people make to the world around us.