Judy Singer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Judy Singer is an Australian disability rights activist, thinker and writer, specialising in the sociology of the autistic spectrum.
Her interest in the Autistic Spectrum began with the diagnosis of her daughter with Asperger's Syndrome, and the realisation that both she and her mother shared AS traits with her daughter to varying degrees.
According to Wordspy, the first published citation of the term "neurodiversity" occurred in an essay by Judy Singer:
Singer,J (1999) "'Why can't you be normal for once in your life?'" in Disability Discourse, Mairian Corker ed., Open University Press,
Singer actually first used this term in her Honours Thesis, written in 1996-7 and presented in 1998.
Singer, J (1998) "Odd People In: The Birth of Community Amongst People on the Autistic Spectrum: A personal exploration of a New Social Movement based on Neurological Diversity" Faculty of Humanities and Social Science University of Technology, Sydney, 1998.
Part of her thesis attempted to map out a sociology of the then newly identified neurological disorders, and to view them as a social construct rather than a medical phenomenon. She argued that neurological difference should be put on a par with other social categories like gender, class, ethnicity and disability, and subject to the same analysis as a source of discrimination.
As the daughter of a mother with AS, she founded ASpar, an online support group for children raised by autistic parents. The site has caused controversy in some sections of the Autistic world because it presents the case that Autistic spectrum disorders are not value neutral when it comes to parenting ability.
