The Autistic Son of Nature and Ecological Alternative: an Eco - Crip Study of Selected Poems by Adam Wolfond

This study examines eco-crip theory in selected poems by the Canadian autistic poet Adam Wolfond (2002- ). Eco-Crip theory is an intersectional critical theory that examines the conflicting binarism of the abled and the disabled, and how nature, as a superior power to humans in general regardless of their ability plays a remarkable role in bridging and reconciling this oppositional binarism. It is a theory that traces the marvelous power of inclusion that nature has in comparison to the white Euro abled man who has long sought to deepen the differences between the abled and the disabled people. In this study, the autistic people, who are considered disabled, are embraced by nature. Because they are sons of nature like their abled- bodied brothers, they are also seen as ecological alternatives to them. In Adam Wolfond`s poems, The Maker of Wanting Space (2020), The Ripples Are Ongoing Acts (2022), In Way of Music Water Answers (2022), and Eros of Bathing stimming Dancing Pacing (2022), Adam Wolfond tries to describe his mother son relationship with one of nature`s elements, water. Through this very close relationship, the disabled autistic poet could prove that he is an “ecological alternative” to the abled- bodied, or neurotypical.