The mismeasure of a young man: an alternative reading of autism through a co-constructed fictional story

Abstract

The combination of academic article and the fictional story it contains represents an attempt to convey our combination of qualitative participatory research and collaborative creative writing, as used in a project with a group of young people with disabilities. Through our story involving the fictional character Jasper, we have tried to distil some of the essence of his real-life inspiration, Peter, a young man with autism. At the same time, we recognise the impossibility of ‘pinning down’ any character as a representation of any psychological condition. By questioning the boundaries between science and art, and by considering alternative ways of creating ‘research reports’, we present the story as an alternative reading of autism. We suggest that the value of fiction in this context is that it allows a reframing of ‘problems’ while presenting readers with an accessible means of connecting with others across disciplinary, methodological and social divides.