Building Dialogues Between Medical Student & Autistic Patients

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

About the autistic author marker

Casey, S., Watts, A., Frost, M., Kedmy, A., & Brett-MacLean, P. (2020). Building Dialogues Between Medical Student & Autistic Patients. Spectrum, (5). https://doi.org/10.29173/spectrum83

Publication date: 27 Jul 2020 Added to AutiHub: 14 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
5
Publication authors identified as autistic
2 / 5 (40.0%)

Abstract

The Patient Immersion Experience (PIE), part of the MD Program’s longitudinal Physicianship course, pairs medical students with individuals with chronic medical conditions to promote an understanding of the lived experience of illness. In October 2017, medical students AW and SC were matched with patient mentor MF, an autistic person[1] and artist. A year later, in the fall of 2018, MF invited his autistic friend AK to participate in collaborating in developing an “interpretive project”, a required capstone component of PIE organized by faculty-lead, PBM. Transcripts of online Google Doc conversations involving SC, AW, MF and AK, that took place over a 3-month period, were used to create a multimedia learning artifact that was exhibited as part of an annual Patient Appreciation Event organized at the end of the year. Rather than simply focusing on transmission of “information”, with SC and AW (as medical students) asking questions and AK and MF responding to it, a commitment was made to an ongoing mutual exchange of ideas. Four main topics were discussed: 1) the value of open communication with others, 2) how the process of informed consent differs for autistic people, 3) hope for a better future for healthcare, and 4) moving forward. These conversations point to the relationship-enhancing possibilities of open, back-and-forth dialogue as an antidote to monological approaches to medicine, providing insights into ways dialogue can enhance both a sense of agency and relational connections, generate new creative thinking, and promote a more holistic, person-centred approach to healthcare.

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: 20 Sep 2026 01:01.

Cited references
11
With a DOI
10
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
0
0 / 11 (0.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
0 / 11 (0.0%)
References with detected author names
11 / 11 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
0
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
29
From DOI or external metadata
29
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
0 / 29 (0.0%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 29 / 29 (100.0%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
0 / 29 (0.0%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. No detected author names are currently linked to an author already present in AutiHub. Distinct people identified as autistic: 0 / 29 (0.0%).
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  2. Marjorie Siegel (1995). More than Words: The Generative Power of Transmediation for Learning . Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l'éducation, 20(4), 455. The Canadian Society for the Study of Education/La Societe canadienne pour l'etude de l'education.
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    OpenAlex
  3. Sanjay A Pai (2004). The Renewal of Generosity: Illness, Medicine, and How to Live . BMJ, 329(7461), 355.2. BMJ.
    OpenAlex
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    OpenAlex
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    OpenAlex
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    OpenAlex
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    OpenAlex
  8. Elizabeth K Jones , Anne L Kittendorf , Arno K Kumagai (2017). Creative art and medical student development: a qualitative study . Medical Education, 51(2), 174-183. Wiley.
    OpenAlex
  9. Pieta Shakes , Andrew Cashin (2019). Identifying Language for People on the Autism Spectrum: A Scoping Review . Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 40(4), 317-325. Informa UK Limited.
    OpenAlex
  10. Albert Neeleman (2020). Speaking, actually – Towards a new ‘fluid’ common-sense understanding of relational becomings . Systeemtherapie, 32(4).
    Type: Article OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W3129973071
    OpenAlex
  11. Mikhail Bakhtin (1984). Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics . University of Minnesota Press.
    OpenAlex