In brief

  • Frederik Boven, PhD

  • Philosopher and psychologist

  • Doctoral thesis on the history of autism

  • Director Autism Digital

  • The Netherlands (Haren)

Introduction

I am historical psychologist, specializing in the conceptual history of autism in (child) psychiatry. I wrote my doctoral thesis on early psychiatric theories of autism. It focused on Frankl, Asperger and Kanner, three pediatricians who between 1938 and 1978 described autism as an affective disorder.

Currently, I am working on the philosophy of autism spectrum conditions. Here I focus on the idea that autism is an affective-cognitive condition in which thought processes are not guided in te same way by feeling.

I was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome myself at age 34.

I am autism coach for autistic students at the University of Groningen through my company Verder met autisme.

I am chair of the foundation Autism Digital. This foundation, which I founded, is active online in Dutch. Autism Digital offers webinars, organizes online groups and publishes blogs  – all about autism in adulthood and from the perspective of autistic adults.

I am external PhD candidate at the Open University of the Netherlands. My philosophical research focuses on the phenomenology of political talk. I am especially interested in the experience of living in the same world despite differences in opinions.

I live in Haren, a small and green village near the city of Groningen, in the north of the Netherlands.