A Living Experiment in Concept Formation: Hacking on the Creation of a Language for Autistic Experience

Abstract Ian Hacking argues that autism narratives are creating the language in which to describe autistic experience. This paper updates and extends Hacking’s analysis by examining recent developments in the language creation, particularly through his Making Up People project. The discussion focuses on autistic people’s conceptual innovations, using “autistic space” to illustrate their ongoing experiments in concept formation. I argue that “autistic space” functions as a site of positive identity formation and as an engine of resistance, allowing autistic people to challenge “expert” knowledge and foster new forms of expertise and institutions in autism science, education, and advocacy. The conclusion reflects on what this discussion reveals about the ethical significance of Hacking’s central idea that kinds of people are “moving targets.”