« J’essayais tellement fort d’être normale… J’ai fini par m’épuiser. »

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Courcy, I., Bélanger, M., Rivières‐Pigeon, C. d., Guerrero, L., & Soulières, I. (2026). « J’essayais tellement fort d’être normale… J’ai fini par m’épuiser. ». Santé mentale au Québec, 51(2), 305-331. https://doi.org/10.7202/1126816ar

Publication date: 1 Jan 2026 Added to AutiHub: 30 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: French
Publisher source (DOI) OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
5
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 5 (20.0%)
  1. Isabelle Courcy
  2. Maxime Bélanger
  3. Catherine des Rivières‐Pigeon
  4. Lucila Guerrero *
  5. Isabelle Soulières

Abstract

Introduction Les personnes autistes sont particulièrement à risque de vivre des formes de violence, de mise à l’écart ou de discrimination menant à de l’exclusion sociale au courant de la vie. Toutefois, très peu de recherches ont abordé l’exclusion sociale à partir de ses dimensions subjectives (p. ex. attitudes, opinions, représentations sociales et perception de soi) et des contextes relationnels dans lesquels ces expériences prennent forme et affectent le bien-être et la santé mentale. Cet article présente les résultats d’une recherche qualitative menée auprès de jeunes adultes autistes du Québec ayant pris part à des groupes de discussion en ligne asynchrones. Il vise à relever les formes d’exclusion sociale partagées par les personnes participantes afin de mieux comprendre les contextes relationnels dans lesquels prennent place ces expériences. Méthode Quatre groupes de discussion asynchrones en ligne ont été réalisés avec 23 adultes autistes âgés de 19 à 31 ans (moyenne: 24). Tous avaient reçu un diagnostic d’autisme de la part d’un professionnel. Pendant près de 3 semaines, des questions ouvertes ont été posées sur un sujet spécifique. Une analyse qualitative avec codage ouvert a été réalisée. Résultats Les résultats montrent 4 principales sources d’exclusion sociale mentionnées par les personnes participantes: les microagressions, la discrimination, la victimisation et les contraintes à l’autodétermination. L’exclusion sociale se réalise dans des contextes relationnels variés dans lesquels l’entourage et les services formels sont parfois considérés comme des soutiens, parfois des sources de fragilisation. Des stratégies de dissimulation, d’autoexclusion et de camouflage apparaissent comme des moyens de prévenir l’exclusion sociale, au détriment de son bien-être. Discussion Cinq pistes d’amélioration pour les pratiques cliniques et d’accueil dans les services généraux sont dégagées:

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 07:54.

Cited references
50
With a DOI
41
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
9
7 / 50 (14.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
10 / 50 (20.0%)
References with detected author names
40 / 50 (80.0%)
Without detected author names
10
Without a structured title
9
Without a stable identifier
9
References with raw author names still to review
10
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
166
From DOI or external metadata
166
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
15
72 / 166 (43.4%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 94 / 166 (56.6%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
15 / 166 (9.0%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 15 / 72 (20.8%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 15 / 163 (9.2%).
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