Our project ‘Non-human Supports Used by Autistic People for Connection, Health and Wellbeing’ is well underway. This autistic-led project explores how autistic people employ a range of objects, services and creatures to support their wellbeing and find comfort, care and connection. The study’s findings offer insights into the everyday and creative ways that autistic people understand, (re)imagine and engage with non-human support activities, practices and things. It is co-funded by the Vitalities Lab and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society.
For the study, autistic adults were interviewed online by project lead Dr Megan Rose. The interview questions asked participants about the kinds of supports (other than people) they use as part of their everyday lives: e.g. for entertainment and leisure, connection with others, cultivating a special interest, dealing with burnout or sensory challenges, and promoting health and wellbeing.
We informed participants that we were taking a very broad view in defining ‘supports’, including ‘things, places and creatures that help you get through the day as an autistic person and deal with any challenges or difficulties’. Participants were asked what supports they used most regularly, what they found most useful or helpful, whether there were any aspects about these supports they didn’t like, which was their favourite support activity or thing (if any), and to explain their answers. The final question asked participants: ‘If you had the chance to design a new support activity or thing to help you in your everyday life – what would it be? How would it help you? What would it look like?’
We have made a short film about some of the participants’ experiences, which can be viewed here.
Currently we are writing academic papers and conference presentations to communicate the findings from the project. We are also working with the wonderful graphic illustrator Sarah Firth, who we commissioned to make ‘portraits’ of each participant using words and images to depict the challenges they face, the supports they use to help them cope with these challenges, and their special interests. We’ll be using these portraits in both our academic outputs and in public-facing open access publications to share with the autistic community and other interested people.
Vitalities Lab 