Conference Program

The present contribution addresses the mechanisms through which educational institutions and care practices operate as sites for the reproduction of inequalities by disciplining subjectivities that diverge from statistical normality and normative normalcy. The paper explores the historical and conceptual intersection of violent re-educational practices aimed at normalizing neurodivergent and queer identities, under the pretense of “evidence-based” care (Shkedy et al., 2021).

The analysis is framed within the critique of Black Pedagogy, an approach that characterizes both historical and contemporary educational postures, not merely defined by explicit physical violence but by a subtle, deep-seated intent to “bend the will” of the individual, omologating their originality to fit pre-established standards of productivity and behavioral conformity (Rutschky, 2015).

Such practices are often normalized within educational routines and justified as being psychologically and pedagogically sensible, yet they result in the depersonalization of the student and the restriction of their existential horizon.

Through the lenses of Critical Autism Studies, Queer Theory, and Neurodiversity Studies, we propose that normalization manifests through the imposition of neuro-normativity as well as hetero-normativity within educational structures as well as society at large, and that this is not an isolated degeneration of an otherwise sensible clinical and pedagogical paradigm, but a structural feature of clinical-inspired approaches to what is still known as “special pedagogy”, rooted in a pathologizing perspective on autistic and otherwise neurodivergent people’s ways of interacting (Marocchini, 2023).

In order to do so, we problematize the shared roots of behavioral approaches to autistic people’s care and education, such as Applied Behavior Analysis, and what are now described as “conversion therapies” for queer identities, both of which historically aimed to make marginalized subjects “indistinguishable from others” (Pyne, 2020).

These regimes of assessment and treatment exercise epistemic injustice (Fricker, 2007) where a dominant group imposes its interpretative paradigm on the lived experiences of marginalized groups, often disregarding their voices and agency.

The contribution reflects on how these dynamics are embedded in the material and spatial fabric of institutions, where micro-segregations as well as neurotype and gender “cages” (Biemmi & Leonelli, 2017) limit what is considered appropriate participation. Through practical examples – such as the forced development of eye contact in autistic children (Korkiakangas, 2018) or the rigid gender-coding of school activities – we argue that educational “inclusion” can become a paternalistic exercise of power that fails to grant real equality. Without a radical change in paradigm, inclusion risks remaining a process where the dominant group maintains the power to decide who belongs and under what conditions of conformity.

Lastly, we seek to reimagine educational justice beyond deficit logics and compensatory interventions. We propose a shift towards an “education to possibilities” and existential planning (Bertin & Contini, 2004), which recognizes the responsibility of individuals towards their own lives and their right to transcend pre-constituted conditions. We conclude by calling for a neuroqueering (Walker, 2021) of educational systems, deconstructing power dynamics and intersectional oppressions to foster a collective liberation that values every variation of human nature as having equal dignity and opportunity.