Bridging the Gap. Damian Milton, the Double Empathy Problem, and the Sociology of Autism (en Inglés)
Reseña del libro "Bridging the Gap. Damian Milton, the Double Empathy Problem, and the Sociology of Autism (en Inglés)"
Who has the right to speak about autism? And from where?Damian Milton is a sociologist, an autistic person diagnosed in adulthood, and the father of an autistic son. That triple position - rare in any academic field - is the starting point of this book: someone who inhabits, simultaneously, the three places from which autism is usually discussed, without any of them talking to the others.This book traces Milton's thinking with depth and rigor without sacrificing accessibility. Chapter by chapter, it builds an argument that shifts the central question of the field: not what is this autistic person missing? but what distance exists between them and those around them - and on which side does the work of closing it fall?The major themes it develops:The double empathy problem: why mutual misunderstanding between neurotypes is real and reciprocal, even when its consequences are not symmetrical.The autism industry, read through Bourdieu: who benefits when autism is defined as deficit, and what is lost when autistic people are excluded from decisions about their own lives.Monotropism: a cognitive theory developed from within the autistic community, which explains deep attention, attentional inertia, and intense interests as internal coherence - not symptom.Dispositional diversity: why the autistic body is not broken, but mismatched with environments that were not designed with it in mind.Participatory research and the turn toward co-research: the difference between consulting autistic people and genuinely sharing with them the power to decide what gets researched.Implications for families, schools, and clinics: how the double empathy framework changes what can be asked and what can be offered.The book includes Milton's keynote address at INSAR 2026 and the June 2026 article in Autism in Adulthood that reaffirms and refines the theory, making this the most current available account of the field in any language.Written from the Yungas of Salta and northern Argentina, with a background in psychological development and inclusive education, the author puts Milton's thinking in dialogue with the Latin American tradition of Freire and Fals Borda - an encounter that, as the book documents, had deeper roots than is usually acknowledged.Bridging the Gap is essential reading for autism researchers, clinicians, educators, and families - and for any autistic person who wants to see their experience named with precision and respect.
