Becoming Advocate

Tracing the emergence of autism in Portugal, from its early recognition in child psychiatry to the rise of parent-led advocacy and digital activism, this book examines how families confront inadequate services, challenge outdated paradigms and advocate for educational and social reforms. Drawing on ethnography and critical analysis, it defines advocacy as a transformative practice that reshapes parents’ identities and links care with politics, showing how digital infrastructures become a force for collectivising in the absence of state support, revealing the intertwined socio-institutional and affective dimensions of care and civic engagement in Portugal. It explores how autistic subjectivities challenge normative notions of personhood and citizenship.