McAuliffe Christine, Walsh Reubs J, Cage Eilidh
Department of Psychology, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland.
Department of Clinical, Neuro- and Developmental Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Autism Adulthood. 2023 Jun 1;5(2):127-138. doi: 10.1089/aut.2021.0074. Epub 2023 Jun 13.
Being nonheterosexual and noncisgender appears to be more common among autistic people. This intersection of identities is often stigmatized in research and society. However, we know that community involvement can protect against negative mental health outcomes associated with being a minority; researchers found this effect in separate studies examining participation in the autistic and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Asexual plus other gender and sexual orientation-based identity (LGBTQIA+) communities. This study examined how autistic LGBTQIA+ individuals navigate their multiple marginalized identities and the LGBTQIA+ community.
Twelve autistic LGBTQIA+ people from the United Kingdom took part in semistructured interviews. Questions focused on identity and community. We analyzed the interviews using reflexive thematic analysis.
We identified four overarching themes-Identity (Re)Development, Navigating Authenticity, Exclusion from Community Spaces, and Creating Change. Participants viewed accessing a community of similar others as a means of increasing understanding, self-knowledge, and self-acceptance. We identified several barriers to inclusion, including accessibility and gatekeeping. Participants discussed strategies to combat these obstacles, such as the creation of intersectional community spaces and activism and representation as a means of increasing autism understanding.
This study suggests that similar to other marginalized groups, autistic LGBTQIA+ individuals are motivated to engage in communities relevant to their identities. However, community spaces for autistic LGBTQIA+ are often inaccessible due to social, sensory, and identity-based barriers. Participants highlighted autism understanding as a barrier to coming out both in community and noncommunity settings. This suggests that improving autism acceptance and understanding is crucial to achieve accessible, intersectional, and inclusive community spaces.
非异性恋和非顺性别者在自闭症患者中似乎更为常见。这种身份的交叉在研究和社会中常常受到污名化。然而，我们知道社区参与可以预防与成为少数群体相关的负面心理健康结果；研究人员在分别考察参与自闭症群体以及女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋、跨性别者、酷儿、双性人、无性恋者及其他基于性别和性取向身份群体（LGBTQIA+）社区的研究中发现了这种效应。本研究考察了自闭症LGBTQIA+个体如何应对其多重边缘化身份以及LGBTQIA+社区。
来自英国的12名自闭症LGBTQIA+人士参与了半结构化访谈。问题聚焦于身份和社区。我们使用反思性主题分析法对访谈进行了分析。
我们确定了四个总体主题——身份（再）发展、驾驭本真性、被排除在社区空间之外以及创造变革。参与者将进入一个由相似他人组成的社区视为增进理解、自我认知和自我接纳的一种方式。我们确定了一些融入的障碍，包括可达性和把关。参与者讨论了应对这些障碍的策略，比如创建交叉性社区空间以及开展行动主义和代表性活动，以此作为增进对自闭症理解的一种方式。
本研究表明，与其他边缘化群体类似，自闭症LGBTQIA+个体有动力参与与其身份相关的社区。然而，由于社会、感官和基于身份的障碍，自闭症LGBTQIA+群体的社区空间往往难以进入。参与者强调，在社区和非社区环境中，对自闭症的理解都是出柜的一个障碍。这表明，提高对自闭症的接纳和理解对于实现可达、交叉性和包容性的社区空间至关重要。
