Drawing on ethnographic evidence from several communities of autistic adults in the UK, I explore the crucial role of the body and the senses in the enactment of autistic subjectivities. Following their initiation into autism-related social groups, members begin using such concepts as triggers, overload, shutdown, and meltdown to refer to their bodily experiences of distress. They then face the task of investing these ambiguous concepts with meaning, through nurturing an increased awareness to their body's relationship with its material surrounding. This cultivation of sensitivity ultimately culminates in the transformation of their bodies into what might be termed autistic bodies.

Autistic people typically struggle to abide by social conventions: a constituent element of their social exclusion. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork within a group of autistic university students in England, I show that although participants would continuously work to uncover the underlying principles of social etiquette, they nevertheless remained unsuccessful in putting their acquired knowledge into practice. Consequently, they turned to subtly shaping their social environments in attempts to redefine the terms under which the appropriateness of their actions is evaluated. I conclude by suggesting that social ineptitude consists of contemplative craft and is a meaningful component of all social interaction.

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