Autistic Co-Led Community Priorities for Future Autism Research in Aotearoa New Zealand.

BACKGROUND

Previous studies of community priorities for autism research have been limited by low representation of autistic people and thus a bias toward the views of families and professionals. We aimed to determine the first community-led priorities for autism research in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ).

METHODS

Autistic people were essential partners in the project, from inception and design through to methods and outputs. We gathered the views of the autistic and autism communities (including family, practitioners, and researchers) through focus groups ( = 55) and an online survey ( = 450). Almost 40% of the survey respondents indicated that they were autistic.

RESULTS

The findings across the focus groups and survey highlighted the importance of research that centralizes the experiences and needs of autistic people, particularly of autistic New Zealanders, including culturally specific research for Māori and Pacific peoples. All five priority topics for autistic adults were also priorities for at least one other group: (1) (all groups); (2) (autistic adults, health care/disability, and education practitioners); (3) (autistic adults, whānau); (4) (autistic adults; education practitioners); (5) (autistic adults; health care/disability practitioners).

CONCLUSIONS

We discuss the advantages of autistic involvement in research, and how these community priorities can inform future research and policy in NZ.