Kids Across the Spectrums

Growing Up Autistic in the Digital Age

Meryl Alper

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English

MIT Press
19 September 2023

Family & health

An ethnographic study of diverse children on the autism spectrum and the role of media and technology in their everyday lives.

An ethnographic study of diverse children on the autism spectrum and the role of media and technology in their everyday lives.

In spite of widespread assumptions that young people on the autism spectrum have a ""natural"" attraction to technology-a premise that leads to significant speculation about how media helps or harms them-relatively little research actually exists about their everyday tech use. In Kids Across the Spectrums, Meryl Alper fills this gap with the first book-length ethnography of the digital lives of autistic young people. Based on research with more than sixty neurodivergent children from an array of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, Kids Across the Spectrums delves into three overlapping areas of their media usage- cultural belonging, social relationships, and physical embodiment.

Alper's work demonstrates that what autistic youth do with technology is not radically different from their non-autistic peers. However, significant social and health inequalities-including limited recreational programs, unsafe neighborhoods, and challenges obtaining appropriate therapeutic services-spill over into their media habits. With an emphasis on what autistic children bring to media as opposed to what they supposedly lack socially, Alper argues that their relationships do not exist outside of how communication technologies affect sociality, nor beyond the boundaries of stigmatization and society writ large. Finally, she offers practical suggestions for the education, healthcare, and technology sectors to promote equity, inclusion, access, and justice for autistic kids at home, at school, and in their communities.

By: Meryl Alper
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 369g
ISBN: 9780262545365
ISBN 10: 0262545365
Pages: 328
Publication Date: 19 September 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Meryl Alper is Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Northeastern University. She is the author of Digital Youth with Disabilities and Giving Voice- Mobile Communication, Disability, and Inequality (both MIT Press).

Reviews for Kids Across the Spectrums: Growing Up Autistic in the Digital Age

""A more expansive, empathetic and complicated portrait of autistic kids, through the lens of tech and media, than much past research and popular portrayals."" —NGN Magazine