#shapearuk

Over the course of three years (2015-2017), the Shaping Autism Research seminar series (#ShapeARUK), funded by the ESRC: Economic and Social Research Council, was organised by autistic and non-autistic people and aimed at determining if/how we should make autism research more participatory.

In August 2018, a paper reporting on this seminar series was published in the journal Autism. 

Interested in making your research more meaningful to autistic people’s lives? Want to do research with autistic people, rather than on or about them? Intrigued but don’t know where to start? 

Well, this Starter Pack is for you. In fact, it is for anyone involved in autism research - in any discipline, in any capacity and in any stage of their lives.

It describes how you can begin to genuinely involve autistic people in your research – in such a way that it promotes trusting relationships, is built on mutual respect, and involves listening to, and learning from, one another – that is, being empathetic researchers.

The Pack also provides some practical ideas about how autistic people and their allies can work together in research.

All of the content was inspired by discussions and debates held in Edinburgh, Newcastle, Cardiff and London as part of the ESRC-funded Shaping Autism Research seminar series. And it was made beautiful by the wonderful artists, Ben Connors and Jon Adams - Flow Observatorium, and amazing designer, Adele Jeffs.

Over to YOU!

On Day One of the seminar, Susy Ridout facilitated a workshop, designed to help attendees communicate and express their thoughts on ‘participation’ by using everyday materials. These are some of the things people came up with ...