I have a degree in Philosophical Sciences from the University of Roma Tre and in Psychology from the University of Pavia.In my research, I use the tools of feminist social epistemology (particularly those of Standpoint Epistemology) to understand the epistemic power relations that occur in the exchange of knowledge between patient and therapist, with a focus on the issues that the Neurodiversity Movement has raised against the medical field. Specifically, I will address claims that have to do with diagnosis and how its meaning is interpreted differently by the parties. This clash brings out a fundamental question of social epistemology about the legitimization of knowledge between experts, representatives of traditional scientific knowledge, and people with first-person experience (people with lived experience), who support their positions through the new epistemologies born out of postcolonial studies and feminist epistemology. Situating this study within the psychiatric context will allow me to trace the trajectory of the growth of the new emancipatory movements based on psychiatric diagnosis, their relationship to Identity Politics, and the consequences that such claims may entail regarding the controversial and contested concept of psychiatric diagnosis. However, the fundamental purpose of the research will be to try to trace the lines of complexity, risks, and long-term effects that the long-standing and necessary question "who can speak for whom" carries when posed within the psychological and psychiatric context.
