Welcome to an Auternative, a research project that aimed to answer the following two questions:
- How do autistic people use strategies, including logic, reasoning and rules, to understand social situations and other people’s reactions, and to empower themselves?
- What are the barriers –including stereotypes, misconceptions and systemic issues– to autistic people using their strengths and appropriate strategies to participate in decision making, the economy and the community?
We have produced a series of reports that include a list of some of the strategies used by autistic people and a list of recommendations for decision makers and service providers.
We are an autistic-led group consisting of autistic people and people with experience supporting autistic people. All aspects of the project are managed by autistic people. To carry out this research, we have received funding from Disability Research on Independent Living and Learning (DRILL), a programme itself funded by the Big Lottery Fund (BLF).