New PhD candidate: Lucie Ducarre

Lucie Ducarre has an interdisciplinary background. She holds a Master’s degree in Law (Paris II Panthéon-Assas, France), a MA in Publishing (Kingston University, UK) and a Graduate Diploma in International studies (King’s College London, UK). Most recently she worked at Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI).

Her project focuses on autistic children’s best interests and child welfare services. The aim is to study how child welfare services, especially child protection, consider and assess the best interests of autistic children in two modern welfare states, Norway and France. The project builds on the Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), as interpreted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (General comments n^o14, 2013) to research the specific questions raised when examining autistic children’s best interests. The degree in which relevant national legislation and administrative/judicial decisions apply the principle of the child’s best interests with regards to autistic children will then be examined.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder, recognized as a disability both in Norway and in France. Autistic people also growingly identify as a minority, through the concept of neurodiversity, and partly in reaction to the widespread oppression they have – and sometimes still – experienced. To capture these different dimensions, the project adopts a socio-legal approach and uses legal and political theories on power, ethnocentrism, and individual rights.

Lucie's supervisors are professor Linda Gröning (main superviser) and associate professor Ingun Fornes.