Perspectives of Autistic Individuals

We use qualitative methods to explore the lived experiences of people on the autism spectrum as they navigate their everyday lives.  We appreciate the richness of the insights that can be gathered through participant observations in a variety of real world contexts, as well as through interviewing people and simply asking them how they experience and process social information. Here, we particularly focus on inclusive educational contexts and social inclusion, from the perspective of persons with a diagnosis.  We also collect information about lived experiences of autistic individuals by coding and conducting qualitative analyses of posts found in online web forums designed specifically for people on the spectrum.

 

 

“Eye contact is sort of like getting shocked or something; it is very unpleasant and almost hurts, and if I am forced to do it for any length of time I get increasingly panicked.”

Sample publications:

Trevisan, D.A., Roberts, N., Lin, C., & Birmingham, E. (2017). How do adults and teens with self-declared Autism Spectrum Disorder experience eye contact? A qualitative analysis of first-hand accounts. PLOS One, 12(11), e0188446. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188446.