Listen

Description

Today’s episode argues that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) functions as a restrictive border, limiting who receives care by prioritising a narrow, often cisgender, white, and male-centric understanding of neurodivergence, particularly autism. It highlights how the DSM’s criteria are inherently biased, leading to the misdiagnosis or invisibility of individuals, especially gestalt language processors (GLPs), BIPOC individuals, and transgender women, whose experiences do not conform to the manual's expectations. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, advocates for a radical shift from a compliance-based diagnostic system to a needs-first, relational, and intersectional approach, proposing the Power, Threat, Meaning Framework (PTMF) and GLP-informed practices as alternatives to expand access to care and build a more inclusive “commons.” She concludes by emphasizing that the current system's failures are not accidental but by design, systematically excluding those who do not fit its predetermined "legible" categories.

Here’s the link to the source article:

https://autside.substack.com/p/the-dsm-fails-neurodivergent-women

Let me know what you think.

The AutSide is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.



Get full access to The AutSide at autside.substack.com/subscribe