Perceptual Experiences of Autistic People With an Intellectual Disability and People With Williams Syndrome: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Elise, F., Irvine, B., Brinkert, J., Hamilton, C., Farran, E. K., Milne, E., Scerif, G., & Remington, A. (2024). Perceptual Experiences of Autistic People With an Intellectual Disability and People With Williams Syndrome: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 38(1), e13326-e13326. https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.13326

Publication date: 29 Nov 2024 Added to AutiHub: 12 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
8
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 8 (12.5%)
  1. Freya Elise *
  2. Brian Irvine
  3. Jana Brinkert
  4. Charlie Hamilton
  1. Emily K. Farran
  2. Elizabeth Milne
  3. Gaia Scerif
  4. Anna Remington

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background Autistic people without intellectual disabilities have increased perceptual capacity: they can process more information at any given time compared to non‐autistic people. We examined whether increased perceptual capacity is evident across the autistic spectrum (i.e. for autistic people with intellectual disabilities) and whether it is specific to autism, or also experienced by people with Williams Syndrome (WS). Methods Five autistic adults with intellectual disabilities and five adults with WS took part in accessible, qualitative interviews. Responses were analysed using thematic analysis. Results Both groups expressed enjoyment of focussed attention, with autistic participants preferring multiple simultaneous inputs. Responses suggested increased perceptual capacity for autistic participants only. The sensory environment was reported to be anxiety‐inducing for both groups. Conclusions This study gives preliminary evidence that increased perceptual capacity may be universal across the autistic spectrum, and specific to autism. Understanding differences in capacity offers more targeted suggestions to support sensory challenges.

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: 12 Sep 2026 17:55.

Cited references
63
With a DOI
50
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
11
6 / 63 (9.5%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
6 / 63 (9.5%)
References with detected author names
57 / 63 (90.5%)
Without detected author names
6
Without a structured title
5
Without a stable identifier
10
References with raw author names still to review
2
References with external metadata lookup issues
1
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
218
From DOI or external metadata
218
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
2
72 / 218 (33.0%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 146 / 218 (67.0%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
10 / 218 (4.6%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 10 / 72 (13.9%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 7 / 188 (3.7%).
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