Abstract
There is limited research examining the inclusion of autistic people in their local communities. This paper reports on two Australian studies which explored this gap, focusing on both autistic people’s experiences and non-autistic people’s attitudes towards autistic individuals. Study One was conducted with primarily non-autistic people (n = 2,383), and Study Two with primarily parents and carers of autistic people (n = 1,297 people). The majority of non-autistic adults perceived discrimination against autistic people in the community; consistent with the experiences of autistic people and their carers. Of particular concern was more negative attitudes towards, and experiences of, autistic adults. There is an urgent need to improve society’s acceptance and inclusion of autistic people of all ages.
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Notes
As there were only 18 respondents from the Northern Territory, these were excluded from the analyses by state of residence.
Percentages are reported to one decimal place; where the cell size is less than 100, they are reported as whole numbers.
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Author Contributions
F.S.and S.C.J. conceived of the study. S.C.J. was the principal investigator for the project, wrote the discussion section and edited the final manuscript. M.A. and N.M. conducted the data analysis and drafted the results section. C.S.G. wrote the first draft of the introduction section.
Funding
This study was funded by Amaze (the peak body for autistic people and their supporters in Victoria).
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Jones, S.C., Gordon, C.S., Akram, M. et al. Inclusion, Exclusion and Isolation of Autistic People: Community Attitudes and Autistic People’s Experiences. J Autism Dev Disord 52, 1131–1142 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-04998-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-04998-7