ERIC Number: EJ1482872
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Oct
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1362-3613
EISSN: EISSN-1461-7005
Available Date: 0000-00-00
From Awareness to Action: Facilitators and Advocacy in Healthcare by Autistic Adults
Megan Best1; RaeAnne Lindsay2; Sarah Demissie2; Isabelle Burakov2; Saury Ramos-Torres3; Meghan Burke2
Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice, v29 n10 p2513-2523 2025
Autistic adults face various psychological and physical health conditions which often require ongoing medical attention. Despite a greater likelihood of health conditions, autistic adults face many systemic barriers in accessing healthcare services. It is important to identify facilitators to healthcare access and recognize the impact of self-advocacy on these experiences. In this qualitative study, we interviewed 15 autistic participants to understand their experienced and desired facilitators when accessing healthcare services, as well as the role of self-advocacy in accessing these services. Overall, participants agreed that formal and informal supports, provider knowledge about autism, and provider openness to providing accommodations served as facilitators. Participants also shared about their experiences related to self-advocacy and accessing healthcare services such as examples of self-advocacy in healthcare, learning to be a self-advocate, and facilitators of self-advocacy. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Descriptors: Adults, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Influences, Access to Health Care, Barriers, Experience, Knowledge Level, Health Personnel, Attitudes, Self Advocacy, Advocacy, Health Services
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub-com.bibliotheek.ehb.be
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: UT2MC39440
Author Affiliations: 1University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA; 2Vanderbilt University, USA; 3The University of Texas at Austin, USA

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