Materials on Sex Education and Relationship Skills Produced with the Autistic Service Users' Involvement

The Autism Foundation in Finland (Autismisäätiö) was a base for a sex education project in which a book for ASD adolescents and adults was written. The people living with autism face a bit different set of problems when... [ view full abstract ]

The Autism Foundation in Finland (Autismisäätiö) was a base for a sex education project in which a book for ASD adolescents and adults was written. The people living with autism face a bit different set of problems when they are learning relationship skills needed in friendships and romantic or sexual relationships and building their sexual identity, than neurotypical persons.
In this three-year project, we have produced materials on sex education and human relationship skills that take in notice the special needs and characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Service user involvement has been the conceptual basis for the majority of actions taken in the project.
Throughout the project autistic youths and adults have been actively involved. A group of ten adults on the autism spectrum has been advocating the target group in the project by naming information needs, telling their own experiences and taking part in the forming of materials. Carefully planned and tested sex education courses (10) have been given for autistic youths and adults.
The possible traits of ASD persons that were taken in notice in this project have been: hypo and hypersensitivities, hardship in social situations, difficulties in interpreting facial expressions and body language and, struggling in using nonverbal gestures, seeing ”the big picture” and understanding the partner’s point of view.
The biggest output of the project is a written sex education book for autistic persons with 124 pages. The book is available in several languages. Also a guidebook and training sessions for 600 instructors, carers and parents have been provided. The project has raised awareness of sexual rights belonging to autistic persons as well by organizing events and using media.

The three year project was funded by the Finnish Slot Machine Association that uses its' profits for promoting health and social welfare in Finland. The information that was given by the autistic persons involved in the... [ view full abstract ]

The three year project was funded by the Finnish Slot Machine Association that uses its' profits for promoting health and social welfare in Finland.
The information that was given by the autistic persons involved in the project was handled anonymously and it remained totally confidential.