The Autistic Reader in Higher Academia:  Neurodivergent Theories as an Emergent Interpretive Lens

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Citations

Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/np193b55j

Abstract

Literary theories and analyses are shaped by a multitude of socio-cultural demographics, but the one factor that determines all interpretations of a text on the most fundamental level of all—though it is relatively unexplored as a critical perspective in its own right—is the reader’s unique neurochemistry. This aspect of sociocultural identity influences every aspect of an individual’s life, in real-world social and interpersonal situations as well as in critical reading and theoretical interpretation of works of fiction. For this reason, I am writing my undergraduate thesis as a celebration of neurodiverse processing styles in higher education, more specifically of proud and unfiltered autistic self-expression. Throughout my time as a student of English literature, my work in both writing and critical reading have been highly informed by this aspect of my identity, which has historically been pathologized and positioned in the popular discourse as a deficit in “normative” neurocognitive function. After recognizing this fact, I began the journey of formulating a critical literary perspective based on the autistic processing model, as well as the idea of reading characters in a text as autistic.

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