Monique Botha
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Neurodiversity‐Affirming Intersectional Approaches That Target Public Policy: Moving the Focus From Changing Individuals to Changing Systems of Power Open
The neurodiversity movement challenges traditional deficit‐oriented models of autism. However, inclusion efforts often prioritize individual attitudinal change over structural reform (e.g., policies and research practices) or exclude Autis…
View article: “I’m kind of stuck in the middle. I don’t know where to go”: Race, Autism, and Intersectional Stigma Among Black and White Autistic Adults
“I’m kind of stuck in the middle. I don’t know where to go”: Race, Autism, and Intersectional Stigma Among Black and White Autistic Adults Open
Background: Autistic adults frequently experience social stigma, which may be compounded by additional marginalized identities such as race, gender, and sexual orientation. Black autistic adults, in particular, may face unique challenges a…
“It’s like calling short people vertically challenged”: Language and terminology preferences among neurodivergent adults Open
Neurodivergent people (e.g. dyslexic people) do not always agree with the terms commonly used by others (e.g. professionals) to describe their neurodivergence. Our mixed methods study aimed to investigate terminology preferences for differ…
View article: “I’m kind of stuck in the middle. I don’t know where to go”: Race, Autism, and Intersectional Stigma Among Black and White Autistic Adults
“I’m kind of stuck in the middle. I don’t know where to go”: Race, Autism, and Intersectional Stigma Among Black and White Autistic Adults Open
Background: Autistic adults frequently experience social stigma, which may be compounded by additional marginalized identities such as race, gender, and sexual orientation. Black autistic adults, in particular, may face unique challenges a…
Using Q Methodology, a Group of Neurodivergent Neurodiversity Researchers Ask: What is the Neurodiversity Movement and what should it do? Open
This paper describes the eight phases of an innovative procedure for collective and reflexive research about neurodiversity. Structured by Q methodology, this procedure allowed a small group ( n = 10) of neurodivergent researchers to ident…
Autism and Thriving: A Critical Review of the Academic Literature Open
While traditional deficit-based biomedical accounts of autism have viewed autism itself as an obstacle to thriving, recent discussions based on social/relational models of disability argue that this pathologizing rhetoric perpetuates stigm…
Parental Influence on the Development of Autistic Masking Open
Background: Masking is conscious or unconscious social adaptation through the suppression of autistic traits to meet mainstream social norms, to the detriment of an autistic individual’s mental health. Little is known about when masking be…
Beyond White, Boy, and Blue: Exploring Prejudice and Dehumanization of Autistic People through Artificial Intelligence Generated Images Open
Background: Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is growing in its prominence and use in society, with an ability to “create” images, text, music, and video in short time frames, with relatively little cost. However, calling it generati…
Who Am I: The Balance Between Masking and Identity Open
Background: Autistic people experience worse mental health outcomes than non-autistic people. Masking (concealing autistic traits) is found to relate to poor mental health. Research shows autistic people indicate relationships between mask…
‘A certain magic’ – autistic adults’ experiences of interacting with other autistic people and its relation to Quality of Life: A systematic review and thematic meta-synthesis Open
There is an increasing focus on research exploring autistic communication and community. In this review, we systematically collate and analyse how autistic adults describe their experiences of other autistic people and the relationship thi…
Language Matters in British Newspapers: A Participatory Analysis of the Autism UK Press Corpus Open
Background: Language around autism plays a crucial role in shaping public attitudes toward autistic people. The use of identity-first versus person-first language and impersonal references to autism can affect how autistic people are perce…
“It's not a physical prison but you can't get out”. How autistic adults make sense of the experience of intimate violence and abuse Open
Background: Autistic people are more likely to experience intimate partner violence (IPV) than non-autistic peers, but our knowledge about how they recognise abuse and make sense of what has happened to them is sparse. The aim of this stud…
“It's a long process, and it's a long journey”: Autistic adult’s experiences of support and recovery after experiencing intimate violence and abuse Open
Background: Many services designed to support victim/survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) do not have a specific focus on, or understanding of neurodivergence, which may impact autistic access to meaningful support. The aim of this…
An Experience Sensitive Approach to Care With and for Autistic Children and Young People in Clinical Services Open
Many support schemes in current autism clinical services for children and young people are based on notions of neuro-normativity with a behavioral emphasis. Such neuro-disorder approaches gradually undermine a person, restrain authentic se…
The neurodiversity concept was developed collectively: An overdue correction on the origins of neurodiversity theory Open
We, an international group of autistic scholars of autism and neurodiversity, discuss recent findings on the origins of the concept and theorising of neurodiversity. For some time, the coinage and theorising of the concept of ‘neurodiversi…
What are the autism research priorities of autistic adults in Scotland? Open
Studies investigating autistic community research priorities indicate a mismatch between what autism research focuses on and what autistic people want to see researched. Furthermore, there has not been a research priority-setting exercise …
Diagnosis as a new beginning not an end: A participatory photovoice study on navigating an autism diagnosis in adulthood Open
Autistic people diagnosed in adulthood often report that the experience can be life-changing, but there are issues with the diagnostic pathway. Few studies consider the views of people currently seeking diagnosis or contextualise the exper…
View article: Non-autistic observers both detect and demonstrate the double empathy problem when evaluating interactions between autistic and non-autistic adults
Non-autistic observers both detect and demonstrate the double empathy problem when evaluating interactions between autistic and non-autistic adults Open
Consistent with a “double empathy” framework, autistic adults often experience better interaction with autistic compared with non-autistic partners. Here, we examined whether non-autistic observers detect differences in autistic interactio…
An experience sensitive approach to care with and for autistic children and young people in clinical services Open
Many support schemes in current autism clinical services for children and young people are based on notions of neuro-normativity with a behavioural emphasis. Such neuro-disorder approaches gradually undermine a person, restrain authentic s…
View article: Anti-ableism and scientific accuracy in autism research: a false dichotomy
Anti-ableism and scientific accuracy in autism research: a false dichotomy Open
It was recently argued that autism researchers committed to rejecting ableist frameworks in their research may sacrifice “scientifically accurate” conceptualizations of autism. In this perspective piece, we argue that: (a) anti-ableism vs.…
Letter to the Editor: A possible threat to data integrity for online qualitative autism research Open
Researchers are increasingly relying on online methods for data collection, including for qualitative research involving interviews and focus groups. In this letter, we alert autism researchers to a possible threat to data integrity in suc…
View article: Anti‐ableist language is fully compatible with high‐quality autism research: Response to <scp>S</scp> inger et al. (2023)
Anti‐ableist language is fully compatible with high‐quality autism research: Response to <span>S</span> inger et al. (2023) Open
Singer et al. (2023) argue that the current lexical shift within autism research towards more neutral terminology hinders accurate scientific description of the wide range of autistic experiences, particularly within clinical and medical c…
View article: Anti-ableist language is fully compatible with high-quality autism research: Response to Singer et al. (2022)
Anti-ableist language is fully compatible with high-quality autism research: Response to Singer et al. (2022) Open
Singer et al. (2022) argue that the current lexical shift within autism research towards more neutral terminology hinders accurate scientific description of the wide range of autistic experiences, particularly within clinical and medical c…
“Autism research is in crisis”: A mixed method study of researcher’s constructions of autistic people and autism research Open
Introduction While not all autism research is ableism, autism researchers can be ableist, including by talking about autistic people in sub-human terms (dehumanization), treating autistic people like objects (objectification), and making o…
Diagnosis as a new beginning not an end: A participatory photovoice study on navigating an autism diagnosis in adulthood Open
Autistic people diagnosed in adulthood often report that the experience can be life-changing, but there are issues with the diagnostic pathway. Few studies consider the views of people currently seeking diagnosis or contextualise the exper…
What are the autism research priorities of autistic adults in Scotland? Open
Studies investigating autistic community research priorities indicate a mismatch between what autism research focuses on and what autistic people want to see researched. Further, there has not been a research priority-setting exercise spec…
Cutting our own keys: New possibilities of neurodivergent storying in research Open
Increasingly, neurodivergent people are sharing their own narratives and conducting their own research. Prominent individuals have integrated the ‘nothing about us without us’ slogan, used by neurodivergent and other disabled social activi…
“Autism Research is in Crisis”: A mixed method study of researcher’s constructions of autistic people and autism research Open
Autism researchers can be ableist, including by talking about autistic people in sub-human terms (dehumanisation), treating autistic people like objects (objectification), and making othering statements which set autistic people apart from…
Brief Report: Does Autistic Community Connectedness Moderate the Relationship Between Masking and Wellbeing? Open
Although ACC did relate to more positive mental wellbeing overall, it did not moderate the negative relationship between masking and wellbeing. If masking relates to the prejudice faced by autistic people, those with greater attachment to …