Christina Nicolaidis, Clarissa Calliope Kripke, and Dora Raymaker have put together this paper about primary care for Autistic adults. The research work that AASPIRE has done on this issue is incredibly important as quality of life and access issues.
Synopsis:
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is defined by differences in social communication and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities. Skills and challenges can change depending on environmental stimuli, supports, and stressors. Quality of life can be improved by the use of accommodations, assistive technologies, therapies to improve adaptive function or communication, caregiver training, acceptance, access, and inclusion. Under the ADA, clinicians have a legal responsibility to provide access to care for all people with disabilities. Accommodations for autistic patients may include using alternative communication strategies, reducing sensory stimuli, providing additional structure to visits, or using visual aids. Autism is associated with a number of medical conditions including epilepsy, gastrointestinal disorders, feeding and nutritional problems, metabolic syndrome, anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances. In people with non-traditional communication or atypical cognition, illness often presents as a change from baseline behavior or function. This paper focuses on the identification of ASD in adults, referrals for services, the recognition of associated conditions, strategies and accommodations to facilitate effective primary care services, and ethical issues related to caring for autistic adults.
To read more, click the link above!
I have been eagerinterested to read this since seeing this project featured in the documentary Loving Lampposts. Thank you, @autisticadvocacy , for reblogging it! (link leads to .pdf)
Paper: Primary Care for Adults on the Autism Spectrum – AASPIRE
knitting in the dark 