Neuronormative atmospheres and the language of the pathology paradigm
Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences June 17, 2026 Zamir Kadodia
Deficit-based language about autism does more than describe; it actively shapes the affective atmospheres autistic people experience. The paper develops the concept of neuronormative atmospheres—affective environments that privilege neurotypical styles of embodiment while backgrounding or normatively discouraging autistic styles. Such language holds these atmospheres in place through institutional embedding and cross-contextual reactivation. Shifting to neurodiversity-affirming language is thus not merely semantic but an ethical and political intervention into the affective conditions of social life.