Focusing developments on a macro-level Maynard and Turowetz (2019: 90) emphasize “social, political, and cultural forces that have shaped and transformed autism, especially in the last thirty years, when its prevalence has risen dramatically”. Similarly, outlining an “Autism Industrial Complex” Broderick and Roscigno (2022: 85) expose “interlocking strands of social policy, busi-ness, education, and medicine”. However, these ‘interlocking strands’ resp. the structural cou-plings seem to be the missing link as even in (educational) science and pedagogy there is a strong concentration on the (inner life of) autistic persons – while its surroundings are rarely re-garded. Considering the observations on complexity and linkage cited above, isolated considerations of autism are challenged – and for empirical research designs the question of how this complexity can be engaged arises. The paper presents and discusses the Situational Analysis (SA) following Clarke (2018) as a possibility to pursue this target. Bringing a postmodern turn into the Grounded Theory Methodology, Clarke argues that post-modernity itself is no consistent system of convic-tions and assumptions, but rather a continuous linking of possibilities. Consequently, she re-nounces to methodological developments which focus on the ‘voice of the individual’ – employing for example autoethnography or biographical studies. Clarke (2018) instead devotes to the ‘situat-ing of interpretations’ and orients her methodical approach to Strauss (1978) conceptualization of Social Worlds: These find themselves in constant negotiations which take place in so-called Are-nas. The Situational Analysis therefore aims to draw an ideally complete picture of these Arenas by using mapping techniques. Mapping an ‘Autism Arena’ in its details – and in a second step undertake cross-cultural compari-sons – seems to be of special importance, since in the field of educational practice there e.g., is a loud call for medical and psychological knowledge and biographical views play a huge role in pedagogical advice literature (Köpfer, Papke & Zobel, 2021). These dominant interpretations im-pede a view on the complexity of the situation – its negotiations and structural couplings. The paper therefore shows the first results of a situational analysis conducted in the southwest of Germany within which interviews are carried not only with diagnosed pupils and parents of these but also with representatives of the education authority, of the medical resp. psychiatric services as well as the social services providing school assistance.

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