Supporting victimised autistic women in Scotland: Using inclusive approaches to understanding their experiences

Victimisation is disproportionately high for disabled women compared to the general population and autistic women experience significant and repeat victimisation throughout their life from childhood to adulthood. However, they are often misunderstood and unsupported across society and within support services. Their intersectional identities incorporating both gender and disability result in elevated victimisation, but there is a lack of understanding and addressal of the problems and needs of this group which creates challenges in providing adequate support. Despite the heightened victimisation experiences, feminist criminology has also somewhat ignored the significance of disability within research and theorisation, and autistic women have been underrepresented in research, particularly from a neuro-affirmative standpoint. Therefore, this research aims to provide a qualitative understanding of experiences of support services following victimisation for autistic women in Scotland. It will look to understand their distinctive and complex needs, placing this in the context of poly-victimisation, acknowledging the multiple and varied harm faced throughout their life course. The research will offer insight into their experiences of emotional and practical support services and incorporate the perspectives of support providers within this. It will explore the barriers and challenges in accessing and receiving support and identify good practice and areas for improvement so support provision reflects the interests of autistic women who have been victimised. It will achieve this using constructivist grounded theory and autism-inclusive research methods, taking a flexible and individualised approach to interviewing and offering both written and verbal interviews.