Alison U Tassone, Kaitlyn E Breitenfeldt, Elizabeth A DeLucia, Jordan Albright, Christina G McDonnell
Department of Psychology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA.
Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.
Autism Adulthood. 2025 May 28;7(3):261-272. doi: 10.1089/aut.2023.0119. eCollection 2025 Jun.
Political participation is an important and meaningful aspect of civic engagement for adults. Existing research suggests that disabled people face barriers to political engagement. However, very little is known regarding how Autistic adults engage in politics in the United States.
Participants included 276 self-consenting Autistic adults (including those with a diagnosis and self-identified) and 361 non-autistic adults. Participants completed an online survey regarding political attitudes, barriers to voting, engagement methods, and affective experiences between December 2020 and January 2021.
The majority of self-consenting Autistic adults in this online sample were registered to vote and identified themselves as part of the Democratic party and as very liberal. On average, Autistic adults most strongly supported policies surrounding disability rights and education. Overall, Autistic adults experienced greater barriers to voting than non-autistic adults. When adjusting for demographic differences across groups, the strongest group differences were that Autistic adults reported greater barriers to voting due to mental health difficulties, fear of crowds, and fear of leaving the house. Autistic adults engaged in politics more through social media outlets and through signing petitions relative to non-autistic adults, but reported engaging less through watching political debates, watching the news, and reading about politics in print newspapers, although effects were not maintained after adjusting for demographic differences. When asked about the current political climate, Autistic adults reported higher negative emotions (feeling upset, nervous, and afraid) than non-autistic adults. Demographic factors (age, gender, and income) related to political experiences.
Results of this study suggest self-consenting Autistic adults face significant barriers to voting and have unique experiences related to political participation. Future research to improve and support political participation among Autistic adults is a critical research priority.
政治参与是成年人公民参与的一个重要且有意义的方面。现有研究表明，残疾人在政治参与方面面临障碍。然而，关于美国自闭症成年人如何参与政治，我们所知甚少。
参与者包括276名自愿参与的自闭症成年人（包括那些有诊断结果和自我认定的）以及361名非自闭症成年人。参与者在2020年12月至2021年1月期间完成了一项关于政治态度、投票障碍、参与方式和情感体验的在线调查。
在这个在线样本中，大多数自愿参与的自闭症成年人登记投票，并将自己认定为民主党成员且非常开明。平均而言，自闭症成年人最强烈支持围绕残疾权利和教育的政策。总体而言，自闭症成年人比非自闭症成年人在投票方面面临更大的障碍。在调整各群体的人口统计学差异后，最显著的群体差异是，自闭症成年人报告由于心理健康问题、害怕人群和害怕出门而在投票方面面临更大的障碍。与非自闭症成年人相比，自闭症成年人更多地通过社交媒体渠道和签署请愿书参与政治，但报告称通过观看政治辩论、看新闻和阅读纸质报纸了解政治的参与度较低，不过在调整人口统计学差异后，这些影响并不持续。当被问及当前的政治氛围时，自闭症成年人报告的负面情绪（感到心烦、紧张和害怕）比非自闭症成年人更高。人口统计学因素（年龄、性别和收入）与政治体验有关。
这项研究的结果表明，自愿参与的自闭症成年人在投票方面面临重大障碍，并且在政治参与方面有独特的经历。未来改善和支持自闭症成年人政治参与的研究是一个关键的研究重点。
