Being able to be myself: Understanding autonomy and autonomy-support from the perspectives of autistic adults with intellectual disabilities

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. six authors of this publication are identified as autistic in the project.

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Ryan, J. G., Brown, H. M., Borden, A., Devlin, C., Kedmy, A., Lee, A., Nicholas, D., Kingsley, B., & Hodgetts, S. (2024). Being able to be myself: Understanding autonomy and autonomy-support from the perspectives of autistic adults with intellectual disabilities. Autism, 28(12), 3092-3104. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613241254432

Publication date: 17 May 2024 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
9
Publication authors identified as autistic
6 / 9 (66.7%)
  1. Jacalyn G. Ryan *
  2. Heather M. Brown *
  3. Anne Borden *
  4. Christina Devlin *
  5. Adam Kedmy *
  1. Austin Lee *
  2. David Nicholas
  3. Bethan Kingsley
  4. Sandra Hodgetts

Abstract

Self-determination enhances a person’s quality of life and is a fundamental human right. According to self-determination theory, autonomy is one of three basic psychological needs that must be met to experience self-determination. The overarching aim of this exploratory study was to learn about autonomy from the perspective of autistic adults with intellectual disability, including what autonomy meant and how participants wanted to be supported to be autonomous. Participants ( n = 8; median age = 24) engaged in a variety of participatory methods (e.g. discussions, arts and crafts, games) during weekly sessions. These sessions took place over 7–16 weeks and were each informed by a guiding question related to autonomy. Artifacts, video or audio recordings from each session, and reflexive journals were thematically analyzed. The results support an overarching meaning of autonomy as being able to be themselves. Participants identified (1) choice and control, (2) communicating their way, and (3) safe environments as important and showed us how they wanted to be supported in each of these three areas. We also identified having autistic facilitators as an overarching strategy. These results provide a foundation for implementing change to enhance autonomy for autistic adults with intellectual disabilities. Lay Abstract Autistic young adults with intellectual disabilities want to be autonomous but are less autonomous than other people. However, they can be autonomous with appropriate support. We wanted to learn how we can support autistic adults with intellectual disabilities to be more autonomous. We designed our study with help from five autistic community partners to make sure the research was relevant to autistic people and would improve their lives. We talked with eight autistic young adults with intellectual disabilities about autonomy. We defined “talk” as verbal language, as well as non-verbal cues such as body language, facial expressions, vocalizations, and laughter. We did art projects and played games while we talked. We met in small groups over multiple sessions. Our participants told us that being autonomous meant being able to be themselves. They told us three main ways to support their autonomy: (1) having choice and control, (2) being able to communicate in their own way, and (3) being in a safe environment. Families, support staff, and caregivers can use this information to help autistic young adults with intellectual disabilities to be autonomous.

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 07:50.

Cited references
47
With a DOI
39
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
6
7 / 47 (14.9%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
1 / 47 (2.1%)
References with detected author names
46 / 47 (97.9%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
1
Without a stable identifier
6
References with raw author names still to review
1
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
160
From DOI or external metadata
160
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
1
71 / 160 (44.4%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 89 / 160 (55.6%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
25 / 160 (15.6%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 25 / 71 (35.2%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 21 / 144 (14.6%).
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