‘The key to this is not so much the technology. It’s the individual who is using the technology’: Perspectives on telehealth delivery for autistic adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

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

About the autistic author marker

Ali, D., O’Brien, S., Hull, L., Kenny, L., & Mandy, W. (2022). ‘The key to this is not so much the technology. It’s the individual who is using the technology’: Perspectives on telehealth delivery for autistic adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Autism, 27(2), 552-564. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613221108010

Publication date: 6 Jul 2022 Added to AutiHub: 12 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
5
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 5 (20.0%)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a large-scale move to remote delivery of healthcare services. However, little research has directly explored telehealth experiences of autistic adults, a population strongly affected by health inequalities and care access barriers. This study sought telehealth experiences of 11 autistic adults (aged 27–67 years), seven family members/carers (aged 44–75) reporting about autistic people and six service providers. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with all participants, which were then thematically analysed. Two over-arching themes identified were technology aids communication and access – except when it doesn’t, and in/flexibility, with a number of sub-themes. The themes, on one hand, highlighted positives of telehealth delivery, including easing some aspects of communication and decreased stress and, on the other hand, negatives, such as increased rigidity of the healthcare system, amplifying pre-existing barriers. Considering autistic people experience barriers to accessing healthcare, this study highlights such barriers could be, in some instances, addressed via remote delivery, as well as possible limitations of telehealth for some autistic adults. Lay abstract The COVID-19 pandemic meant that a lot of healthcare services had to move online, such as to video-calls, or to telephone. However, not many studies have looked at how autistic adults feel about this kind of service delivery. It is important to know this, as autistic people may have poorer health than non-autistic people, and they may also struggle to access services more than non-autistic people. This study asked 11 autistic adults (aged 27–67 years), seven family members/carers (aged 44–75) reporting about autistic adults and six service providers about their experiences of accessing or providing a telehealth service. These experiences were collected through interviews, which were then analysed through thematic analysis. Two main themes were: technology aids communication and access – except when it doesn’t, and in/flexibility. The themes pointed out some positive aspects of telehealth delivery, including improved communication and decreased stress. The themes also pointed out negative aspects of telehealth, such as increased rigidity of the healthcare system, amplifying pre-existing barriers. Because autistic people have many barriers to accessing healthcare, this study encourages researchers and healthcare providers to think about how such barriers could be addressed through telehealth, and about the possible limitations of telehealth for some autistic people.

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 18:20.

Cited references
63
With a DOI
54
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
9
4 / 63 (6.3%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
8 / 63 (12.7%)
References with detected author names
63 / 63 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
Without a structured title
8
Without a stable identifier
9
References with raw author names still to review
0
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
260
From DOI or external metadata
260
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
87 / 260 (33.5%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 173 / 260 (66.5%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
6 / 260 (2.3%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 6 / 87 (6.9%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 5 / 241 (2.1%).
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