Childism, Adultism, and Language Barriers in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Messaging: An Analysis of EDI Statements across Child and Youth Autism Centres, Clinics and Hospitals in Canada

In the past three years, organizations in Canada have been asked to better address issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). Organizations have been encouraged to self-reflexively look inward, to examine how institutional policies and practices serve EDI goals. EDI is increasingly regarded as a social justice issue. In the Canadian autism and autistic community, more attention is being devoted to EDI. However, to date EDI messaging has not been explored in the context of child and youth autism centers and hospitals. We conducted a scan of EDI messaging across child and youth Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) centres in Canada. We utilized a document analysis approach. We found major geographic disparities in EDI messaging with most EDI messaging originating from Ontario. Some ASD centers did not have EDI statements. EDI messaging was mainly directed toward adults, and in this way reflected discourses of childism and adultism. Despite Canada’s growing language diversity, EDI statements were mainly in English only and reflected a lack of engagement with other languages. Statements were Euro-centric. Vagueness in EDI statements, tokenistic EDI statements, and a lack of attention to intersectionality in EDI statements continue to be problems of a moderate scale. Finally, many ASD centers were reliant on broader institutions’ EDI statements and did not generate their own EDI statements. Suggestions to improve EDI messaging in the context of pediatric care – such as engaging children and families in the writing of EDI statements and taking accountability and responsibility to generate one’s own – are proposed.