Staging neurodiverse sibling relationships

Ettinger, Emma (2026) Staging neurodiverse sibling relationships. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis combines critical disability and practice-research methodologies to investigate how sibling relationships involving autism are, and might be, rehearsed and represented through drama. Drawing on frameworks from sociologist Ariella Meltzer’s sibling-disability research, it aims to honour the ways that neurodiversity shapes, and sometimes complicates, our sibling relationships, without, as Meltzer says, ‘resorting to a framework that “blames” disability for disrupting normative relations’ (2018: 1218). Written from a non-autistic sibling perspective, the thesis blends autobiographical fiction with interview-inspired playwriting techniques and input from neurodivergent artists—recognising the danger of speaking over autistic voices, but also the need for nondisabled family to have, as Mark Osteen says, ‘a location from which to comment’ (2008: 7). In doing so, it proposes a reflexive, auto/ethnographic methodology for investigating neurodiverse and other disabled relationships, from a perspective where the author is inside the relationship but outside the experience of the disability itself.

This practice-research thesis is divided into two parts: a critical thesis and a full-length play-text. The play-text is titled Two Truths and tells a fictional story about the interactions between two autistic–nonautistic sibling dyads (a brother-sister and a sister-sister pair). The critical thesis begins with a Literature Review (Chapter 1), situating the work at a nexus of disability theatre, neurodiversity criticism, and sibling studies. Chapter 2 establishes a methodology and highlights how the concepts of embodied knowledge and interdependence resonate between the frameworks of critical disability studies and theatrical practice-research. The third chapter, or ‘Practice Review’, examines existing depictions of neurodiverse siblinghood to identify some of the cultural narratives, formal techniques, and other dramaturgical approaches that Two Truths seeks to emulate or avoid. Chapter 4 provides a dramaturgical analysis of Two Truths, reflecting on the process of writing and workshopping the play-text and the insights this process revealed. The Conclusion looks beyond Two Truths itself to propose an auto/ethnographic methodology for examining disability-adjacent and other complex relationships.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Supported by funding from a College of Arts Postgraduate Research Scholarship. This thesis also includes a play-text for 'Two Truths' as a separate document, currently under embargo.
• Subjects: P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > Theatre Film and TV Studies
• Funder's Name: College of Arts Postgraduate Research Scholarship
• Supervisor's Name: Eatough, Professor Graham and Cairns, Professor Deborah
• Date of Award: 2026
• Embargo Date: 8 September 2029
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2026-86236
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 15 Sep 2026 12:07
• Last Modified: 17 Sep 2026 11:32
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.86236
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/86236

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