This article proceeds from the observation that
autistic and transgender experiences have signifi-
cant and overlapping temporal schemes to which
narrative is crucial. While both autism and trans-
gender are highly medicalized states of being,
there exists no biological marker that distinguishes
autistic from allistic (nonautistic) minds, or trans-
gender from cis ones. Indeed, both autism and
transgender can be understood as “narrative con-
ditions” (Duffy and Dorner 2011), in the sense that
each comes into being as it is storied over time, by
oneself and by others. As two so-called epidemics
on the rise, a temporality of urgency now attaches
to both autistic and transgender subjects, and in
recent years those who straddle the categories—
autistic and trans—have come to inspire maxi-
mum hand-wringing (see Bradley 2017). In this
article, I draw on the life writing of autistic, trans,
and autistic-trans authors to consider the tempo-
ral possibilities of their narratives.
This article is great! Highly recommended.