Knowing me, knowing you: perspectives on awareness in autism

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to raise important questions from the different perspectives on
autism research that arose from a seminar on autism and technology, held as part of an ESRC-funded series
on innovative technologies for autism.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper focuses on the roles of technology in understanding
questions about different perspectives on autism: how do people on the spectrum see neurotypicals (people
without autism) and vice versa?; how do the authors use eye gaze differently from each other?; how might
technology influence what is looked at and how the authors measure this?; what differences might there be in
how people use imitation of others?; and finally, how should the authors study and treat any differences?
Findings – The authors synthesise common themes from invited talks and responses. The audience
discussions highlighted the ways in which the authors take account of human variation, how the authors can
understand the perspective of another, particularly across third-person and second-person approaches in
research, and how researchers and stakeholders engage with each other.
Originality/value – The authors argue that the question of perspectives is important for considering how
people with autism and neurotypical people interact in everyday contexts, and how researchers frame their
research questions and methods. The authors propose that stakeholders and researchers can fruitfully
engage directly in discussions of research, in ways that benefit both research and practice.

More information

Identifiers

ORCID for Sarah Parsons: orcid.org/0000-0002-2542-4745

Catalogue record

Export record

Altmetrics