Papers by Katie Sutherland
Journal of Applied Youth Studies, 2024
While every young person in Out-Of-Home Care (OOHC) has their own unique story, what they do have... more While every young person in Out-Of-Home Care (OOHC) has their own unique story, what they do have in common is the experience of a disrupted life. As they move through placements and assigned case workers change roles, young people frequently lack access to important records and memorabilia. A disjointed personal narrative can undermine a young person's sense of identity and, given this cohort is already at great risk of poor general outcomes when transitioning to adulthood, can put their physical and mental wellbeing at risk. This paper examines the role digital technology can play in supporting identity for young people in OOHC. It does so through consideration of a new Australian digital app called CaringLife and argues for the benefits of future Life Story Work (LSW) in a digital format in conjunction with more conventional formats. We argue that a digital format for life storying has strong potential to address the higher than usual critical issues this group face: unemployment, homelessness, and mental illness.
Young and Resilient Research Centre, 2022
A collaborative investigation into digital opportunities for the personal narratives of young peo... more A collaborative investigation into digital opportunities for the personal narratives of young people in care
The Conversation, 2018
Employable Me is being touted as the feel good TV series of 2018. But will it make any difference... more Employable Me is being touted as the feel good TV series of 2018. But will it make any difference to how employers approach jobseekers with disabilities?
The Conversation, 2017
Artworks in The Big Anxiety festival in Sydney shine a light on life from an autistic point of vi... more Artworks in The Big Anxiety festival in Sydney shine a light on life from an autistic point of view, emphasising sensory experience.
The Conversation, 2017
The introduction of a new muppet on Sesame Street represents an encouraging cultural shift in the... more The introduction of a new muppet on Sesame Street represents an encouraging cultural shift in the portrayal of characters with autism. But there is still a way to go.
TEXT, Special Issue 38, Apr 2017
Autoethnographic stories about illness and disability are usually written for, and with, readers ... more Autoethnographic stories about illness and disability are usually written for, and with, readers in mind, engaging in the ‘reciprocity that is storytelling [whereby] the teller offers herself as a guide to the other’s self-formation’ (Frank 1995: 17–8). While self-reflexive narratives can be immensely healing for the writer, they also invite readers to reflect upon the issues at hand and bring about a shift in their own thinking. As such, self-reflexive writing can be a powerful tool for advocacy and for challenging the status quo. By allowing readers to empathise and connect with the subject matter at a very personal level, it can illuminate nuanced moments of adversity or insight, and capture a depth of understanding that more traditional texts may not always depict. This article draws on interviews with families living with high functioning autism and the exemplar text Far from the tree: Parents, children and the search for identity (Solomon 2014). Following Solomon, the article’s author reflects upon personal experiences and embraces self-reflexivity as a way of better understanding herself, representing her subjects, and helping to illuminate a common theme that difference is a value worth nurturing.
Global Media Journal, 2016
This article examines two exemplar texts, both memoirs written by mothers about their sons, and d... more This article examines two exemplar texts, both memoirs written by mothers about their sons, and discusses the altruistic motivation for using self-reflexive writing techniques in narrative representations of illness and disability. Through an analysis of texts by authors Rachel Adams (2013) and Anne Deveson (1991), the article explores the pros and cons of vulnerable writing about oneself and others, including the author's own children and family. Much is at stake for Adams and Deveson as they write about deeply personal experiences and feelings, and in doing so share the lived experience of disability (Down syndrome) and mental illness (schizophrenia) and broader issues around parenting, difference and identity. It is proposed that researching and writing with reflexivity not only allows writers to better understand themselves, but also opens the door to reader empathy, creating a sense of connection for readers. Furthermore, the examined texts by Adams and Deveson illustrate how vulnerable writing can be a form of advocacy as the authors promote a greater understanding of the ethnographic subject matter by pushing against assumptions, breaking down stereotypes and making the personal, political.
Book Reviews by Katie Sutherland
Global Media Journal: Australian Edition, 2020
The Conversation, 2019
The final instalment to the Rosie Project trilogy points to greater awareness about neurological ... more The final instalment to the Rosie Project trilogy points to greater awareness about neurological differences.
The Conversation, 2018
Rozanna Lilley’s book ‘Do Oysters Get Bored’ explores the complexity of family life, contrasting ... more Rozanna Lilley’s book ‘Do Oysters Get Bored’ explores the complexity of family life, contrasting her own unconventional childhood with mothering an autistic son.
Global Media Journal: Australian Edition, 2017
Thesis Chapters by Katie Sutherland
Doctorate of Creative Arts thesis, 2019
*Please note that the creative component of this thesis is withheld.
This project examines how ... more *Please note that the creative component of this thesis is withheld.
This project examines how personal storytelling can be used to illuminate and further develop understanding of illness, disability and diversity. Through an exegesis and creative component, it explores the notion that we live on a human continuum, and how the sharing of stories can help to break down the ‘them and us’ and ‘normal and abnormal’ dichotomy so often found in dialogue on illness and disability. The author proposes that personal storytelling can disrupt definitions around normality and instead offer a tool to assist in the development, and enhancement, of empathy.
The creative component of this project is a multi-layered text that examines the experiences of family units living with what was formerly known as Asperger’s syndrome, then high functioning autism, and now autism. Indeed, the lived experience of those on the spectrum can resist well-ordered classification. This section combines the author’s own story as a mother, interviews with other families and individuals, and reflections on the process of researching and writing about autism. Incorporating a critical self-consciousness into her writing, the author ruminates on the complexities of parenting a son who is ‘on the spectrum’ by adopting a “wondering gaze”, as Max van Manen (2002) terms it, with the answers found in the “experience of writing itself” or in this “writerly space where reigns the ultimate incomprehensibility of things…the uncanny rumble of existence itself” (p. 243).
The exegesis discusses the altruistic motivation for using self-reflexive writing techniques in narrative representations of illness and disability. As sociologist Marjorie L. DeVault (1997) writes: “[personal writing] makes excluded voices ‘hearable’ within a dominant discourse” and “is useful for exploring the unexpected and thus for bringing to light aspects of ‘ordinary’ experience that are typically obscured” (p. 226). It is particularly important to address the ‘social’ and the ‘ordinary’ everyday experiences within illness and disability because they are often neglected in the medical setting. Yet such experiences are what make a person whole—they are, of course, so much more than their physical symptoms and treatments (Richards, 2008; Carel, 2008).
Through an analysis of texts by parents raising children with disabilities, the exegesis explores the advantages and drawbacks of vulnerable writing about oneself and others. It is proposed that researching and writing with reflexivity not only allows authors to better understand themselves, but also opens the door to reader empathy, creating a sense of connection for readers and a greater understanding of the ethnographic subject matter by pushing against assumptions and breaking down stereotypes.
Simultaneously, the author applies this knowledge to her creative project to illuminate the nuances of families living with autism. As such, the research provides an avenue that affords some empathy for the people in the stories told, and subsequently becomes a tool for understanding, for it is through connecting with others’ stories, chaotic as they may be, that we make meaning of experiences and sense of our lives (Mattingly & Garro, 2000).
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Papers by Katie Sutherland
Book Reviews by Katie Sutherland
Thesis Chapters by Katie Sutherland
This project examines how personal storytelling can be used to illuminate and further develop understanding of illness, disability and diversity. Through an exegesis and creative component, it explores the notion that we live on a human continuum, and how the sharing of stories can help to break down the ‘them and us’ and ‘normal and abnormal’ dichotomy so often found in dialogue on illness and disability. The author proposes that personal storytelling can disrupt definitions around normality and instead offer a tool to assist in the development, and enhancement, of empathy.
The creative component of this project is a multi-layered text that examines the experiences of family units living with what was formerly known as Asperger’s syndrome, then high functioning autism, and now autism. Indeed, the lived experience of those on the spectrum can resist well-ordered classification. This section combines the author’s own story as a mother, interviews with other families and individuals, and reflections on the process of researching and writing about autism. Incorporating a critical self-consciousness into her writing, the author ruminates on the complexities of parenting a son who is ‘on the spectrum’ by adopting a “wondering gaze”, as Max van Manen (2002) terms it, with the answers found in the “experience of writing itself” or in this “writerly space where reigns the ultimate incomprehensibility of things…the uncanny rumble of existence itself” (p. 243).
The exegesis discusses the altruistic motivation for using self-reflexive writing techniques in narrative representations of illness and disability. As sociologist Marjorie L. DeVault (1997) writes: “[personal writing] makes excluded voices ‘hearable’ within a dominant discourse” and “is useful for exploring the unexpected and thus for bringing to light aspects of ‘ordinary’ experience that are typically obscured” (p. 226). It is particularly important to address the ‘social’ and the ‘ordinary’ everyday experiences within illness and disability because they are often neglected in the medical setting. Yet such experiences are what make a person whole—they are, of course, so much more than their physical symptoms and treatments (Richards, 2008; Carel, 2008).
Through an analysis of texts by parents raising children with disabilities, the exegesis explores the advantages and drawbacks of vulnerable writing about oneself and others. It is proposed that researching and writing with reflexivity not only allows authors to better understand themselves, but also opens the door to reader empathy, creating a sense of connection for readers and a greater understanding of the ethnographic subject matter by pushing against assumptions and breaking down stereotypes.
Simultaneously, the author applies this knowledge to her creative project to illuminate the nuances of families living with autism. As such, the research provides an avenue that affords some empathy for the people in the stories told, and subsequently becomes a tool for understanding, for it is through connecting with others’ stories, chaotic as they may be, that we make meaning of experiences and sense of our lives (Mattingly & Garro, 2000).
This project examines how personal storytelling can be used to illuminate and further develop understanding of illness, disability and diversity. Through an exegesis and creative component, it explores the notion that we live on a human continuum, and how the sharing of stories can help to break down the ‘them and us’ and ‘normal and abnormal’ dichotomy so often found in dialogue on illness and disability. The author proposes that personal storytelling can disrupt definitions around normality and instead offer a tool to assist in the development, and enhancement, of empathy.
The creative component of this project is a multi-layered text that examines the experiences of family units living with what was formerly known as Asperger’s syndrome, then high functioning autism, and now autism. Indeed, the lived experience of those on the spectrum can resist well-ordered classification. This section combines the author’s own story as a mother, interviews with other families and individuals, and reflections on the process of researching and writing about autism. Incorporating a critical self-consciousness into her writing, the author ruminates on the complexities of parenting a son who is ‘on the spectrum’ by adopting a “wondering gaze”, as Max van Manen (2002) terms it, with the answers found in the “experience of writing itself” or in this “writerly space where reigns the ultimate incomprehensibility of things…the uncanny rumble of existence itself” (p. 243).
The exegesis discusses the altruistic motivation for using self-reflexive writing techniques in narrative representations of illness and disability. As sociologist Marjorie L. DeVault (1997) writes: “[personal writing] makes excluded voices ‘hearable’ within a dominant discourse” and “is useful for exploring the unexpected and thus for bringing to light aspects of ‘ordinary’ experience that are typically obscured” (p. 226). It is particularly important to address the ‘social’ and the ‘ordinary’ everyday experiences within illness and disability because they are often neglected in the medical setting. Yet such experiences are what make a person whole—they are, of course, so much more than their physical symptoms and treatments (Richards, 2008; Carel, 2008).
Through an analysis of texts by parents raising children with disabilities, the exegesis explores the advantages and drawbacks of vulnerable writing about oneself and others. It is proposed that researching and writing with reflexivity not only allows authors to better understand themselves, but also opens the door to reader empathy, creating a sense of connection for readers and a greater understanding of the ethnographic subject matter by pushing against assumptions and breaking down stereotypes.
Simultaneously, the author applies this knowledge to her creative project to illuminate the nuances of families living with autism. As such, the research provides an avenue that affords some empathy for the people in the stories told, and subsequently becomes a tool for understanding, for it is through connecting with others’ stories, chaotic as they may be, that we make meaning of experiences and sense of our lives (Mattingly & Garro, 2000).