Understanding experiences of the autistic community for all autistic adults

Autistic people often experience poorer Quality of Life (QoL) compared to non-autistic people (Plimley, 2007; Moss, Mandy & Howlin, 2017). Many autistic adults report that contact with the autistic community is beneficial to them (Sinclair, 2010; Fletcher-Watson & May, 2018; Crompton et al., 2019, Dekker, 2020), however research in this area is limited. This study aims to examine whether there is a relationship between participation in the autistic community and autistic adults' QoL, which would mirror similar findings in populations such as the D/deaf community (Gerich & Fellinger, 2012). Using mixed methods it will provide quantitative data on autistic community contact and QoL, as well as qualitative data on how these factors may be related. This research will create and validate new measures for use in future research and provide an evidence base to justify increased funding for initiatives which create more opportunities for autistic community contact.
Research Questions
1) Is there a positive relationship between autistic community contact and higher QoL scores?
2) Is this relationship independent of the level of support needs of the participants?
3) Does qualitative data show participants believe contact with the autistic community is beneficial to QoL?