Coproduction with Autistic Adults: Reflections from the Authentistic Research Collective
Eloise Stark, Dorota Ali, Annalise Ayre, Naomi Schneider, Sophia Parveen, Keith Marais, Nick Holmes, Richard Pender
Abstract
This article explores coproduction in relation to autistic people. We reflect on the coproduction process with autistic adults from the Authentistic Research Collective at University College London. We aimed to support the autistic population's mental health needs by coproducing a document on adapting psychological therapy, and by developing a set of reflective guidelines to guide and encourage future coproduction initiatives between autistic and nonautistic team members. We reflect upon six elements that are of potential importance for future coproduction projects with autistic adults: (1) the meaning of coproduction; (2) ground rules and a traffic light system; (3) environmental adaptations; (4) digital communication tools; (5) encouraging authenticity; and (6) supporting autistic strengths. We conclude by discussing future research avenues into optimizing coproduction with autistic people, and how such research may influence both practice and policy. Lay summary Why is coproduction important? Coproduction means creating things jointly with others. Ideally, autistic people should be involved in research that is about them so that their thoughts and opinions are included. Coproduction allows this to happen. What is the purpose of this article? There is little advice for how autistic and nonautistic people can work together to coproduce useful research. This article hopes to encourage discussion by sharing our reflections on how we used coproduction in our project. What did we do? Our group was made up of autistic and nonautistic people. One of our goals was to gain experience in using coproduction. We created this article containing our reflections—what we found worked well, and what we felt could be done differently in the future. What did we learn? We learnt the importance of five key areas: (1) group rules, and a “traffic light” system to help group members show how they like to communicate; (2) adapting the environment to suit people's needs; (3) inclusion of digital communication tools; (4) encouraging group members to feel they are authentic (be fully themselves); and (5) supporting autistic strengths. We hope that the discussion of these themes will be helpful for future coproduction projects.