Marion Hersh

This paper presents new empirical data obtained from interviews and focus groups on older (50 and over) autistic people’s experiences of accessing a variety of services. The involvement of older autistic people and giving voice to their experiences was central to all aspects of the research process. This work makes a significant contribution to the scarce literature on older autistic people. In particular, it discusses the factors that act as barriers and enablers to the access to and productive use of services, the strategies used by participants to manage and improve their experiences, and the success of these strategies. It shows older autistic people as autonomous adults and active protagonists in their own lives, taking action to overcome the barriers they experience to accessing services on the same terms as everyone else, but that lack of understanding and support from service providers and the general public can undermine their strategies. Finally, this work provides a series of recommendations for service providers to improve (older) autistic people’s service access and experiences.

The study uses a qualitative approach and in-depth interviews to explore the views of parents, specialists, teachers, and autistic individuals of the use of virtual reality in education and therapy. The results suggest that VR has considerable potential as a tool, but that longitudinal research is required to investigate its effectiveness and safety and that VR should be used to support rather than replace other approaches. Effective use of VR will require appropriate training for teachers and therapists, consideration of individual needs, the diversity of autistic individuals and their sensory issues and have the potential to incorporate future technological developments.