Understanding wellbeing from the perspective of adults with autism and learning disability

Background and introduction There are ethical, organisational and policy drivers to ensuring that adult care services are appropriate, meaningful and have a positive impact. However, despite an increasing demand for... [ view full abstract ]

Background and introduction

There are ethical, organisational and policy drivers to ensuring that adult care services are appropriate, meaningful and have a positive impact. However, despite an increasing demand for providers to demonstrate that the people they support are achieving outcomes (Miller, 2010), little is understood from the perspective of autistic adults about what components of a care service promote autistic wellbeing and quality of life (Parsons et al., 2008). The author works for The National Autistic Society and is also undertaking a part-time Doctorate with the aim of developing a better understanding of the representation of autistic wellbeing. The research is change-orientated (Creswell, 2003) and grounded in a participatory paradigm (Bryman, 2012).

Methodology

The pilot project was designed to inform the main Doctoral study by trialling a visual data collection method. A visual method (Kellock et al., 2011) was chosen, as it is documented that autistic people are often visual thinkers (Grandin, 2009) and the participants did not use words to communicate. Photography was used as a visual mechanism for learning more about the things that are important to individuals with autism and learning disabilities in their everyday lives. Participants were asked to take photographs of things that were important to them over a period of five days. Consent was obtained from both legal Guardians and the participants.

Results

A thematic analysis of the photographs was completed, and the results will be presented, which it is hoped provide some useful insights and contribute to an improved understanding of the representation of autistic wellbeing. The author will also describe their research proposal for the main Doctoral study.