Further to Go: The Pervasie Use of Undesirable Models and Language in Research on Neurogivergence in Academic Libraries

Abstract

It has been suggested that LIS literature discussing neurodivergence uses undesirable models of disability and undesirable language despite growing advocacy for alternatives. We examine the models and language used in 44 works on neurodivergence and academic libraries and find that 95% of those works use undesirable language like patronising, person-first, and medicalised/deficit-focused language. The medical model is never explicitly used, but numerous works with no explicit model use medicalised/deficit-focused language. Although no works use explicitly ableist language, undesirable language is present even in works using the social model of disability. Recommendations for future research and practice are provided.

Catharina Ochsner

School of Library and Information Science, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Catharina Ochsner is a research associate in the Research Group Information Management at the Berlin School of Library and Information Science at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. As part of her work in the Research Group Information Management, she explores infrastructures around scholarly blogs. Her other areas of interest are information ethics, particularly research on neurodivergence in LIS and information inequity in legal proceedings.