Autism in Australia: Community Knowledge and Autistic People's Experiences

This paper presents two studies that explored community attitudes to autism in Australia; and autistic people and their families' perspectives of community attitudes. In Study One 2424 (primarily non-autistic) people completed a survey on autism-related knowledge and attitudes; identifying a number of misperceptions and knowledge gaps in the general community. In Study Two 1353 people (primarily parents and carers of autistic people) completed a survey on autism-related experiences; identifying that the community's awareness of autism does not appear to extend to understanding how to support autistic people. There is a need for more research which integrates the perspectives of both autistic people and the broader community; and the development of communication and education interventions, with rather than about autistic people.

Automated summary

The studies found misconceptions and knowledge gaps about autism in the general community, as well as a lack of understanding on how to support autistic individuals. More research is needed to integrate perspectives from both autistic individuals and the broader community, and to develop communication and education interventions that involve autistic individuals rather than being focused on them.