‘Maybe we just seem like easy targets’: A qualitative analysis of autistic adults’ experiences of interpersonal violence

Abstract

Research has consistently found high rates of victimisation among autistic children. There is emerging evidence that disproportionate victimisation continues into adulthood, however the extent, nature and impact and the mechanisms that underlie high rates of interpersonal violence are not well understood. Here we investigate the nature and impact of violence experiences using qualitative methods. Twenty-two autistic adults who had experienced interpersonal violence during adulthood participated in semi-structured interviews. We analysed the data using a thematic analysis to identify key themes. Violence was commonplace in their own lives and in the lives of other autistic people that they knew, to the extent that violence had become normalised. They spoke of the impacts of these experiences on their mental health, self-concept and subsequent relationships and of how these impacts were exacerbated when their disclosures were dismissed by others. They reported that certain autistic characteristics might make them more vulnerable and of how such characteristics were often shaped by repeated experiences of invalidation and pressure to conform within a neurotypical world. These findings demonstrate the importance of developing ways to improve the personal safety of autistic people which must include the broader social factors that at least partly contribute to these distressing experiences. Lay abstract Research has consistently shown that autistic children are more likely to be victimised than non-autistic children. More recently, studies have also found that autistic adults report experiencing more violence than non-autistic adults however the circumstances surrounding these incidents and the reasons for this are not clear. We wanted to learn more about violence during adulthood for autistic people including what led up to these incidents and what happened afterwards. We spoke to 22 autistic adults who had experienced violence and analysed what they told us to look for common themes. They told us that violence was commonplace in their own lives and in the lives of other autistic people that they know, so much so that they had even come to expect it to happen. They also talked about the negative effect these experiences had on their mental health, the way they felt about themselves and their ability to trust people. This was made worse if people did not believe them when they disclosed what had happened to them. They told us that certain autistic characteristics might make them more vulnerable like being too trusting or going along with people just to please them. They thought that some of these characteristics had been shaped by their experiences, especially being told that that their thoughts, feelings or behaviours were wrong and being pressured to change the way they behaved to ‘fit in’. These findings are important in helping us to understand how to improve the personal safety of autistic people.