“This may be a really good opportunity to make the world a more autism friendly place”: Professionals’ perspectives on the effects of COVID-19 on autistic individuals

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

Spain, D., Mason, D., Capp, S. J., Stoppelbein, L., W White, S., & Happé, F. (2021). “This may be a really good opportunity to make the world a more autism friendly place”: Professionals’ perspectives on the effects of COVID-19 on autistic individuals. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 83, 101747. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2021.101747

Publication date: 7 Mar 2021 Added to AutiHub: 18 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
6
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 6 (16.7%)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 (C-19) pandemic affects everyone. Autistic individuals may be at increased risk of experiencing difficulties coping with the impact of C-19 (e.g. due to unexpected changes to usual activities and routines, and the general sense of uncertainty). This preliminary study gathered the perspectives of health and social care professionals, and researchers, about: (1) vulnerability factors for coping with the pandemic; (2) the impact of the pandemic; (3) service provision during the pandemic; and (4) interventions to support reintegration during and post the pandemic. METHOD: We conducted an online survey, comprising Likert-scale and free text responses. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively, and qualitative data thematically. RESULTS: Thirty-seven participants, working in clinical, education and academic settings with autistic individuals, completed the survey. C-19 had substantially impacted service provision, causing major disruption or loss of services. Thematic analysis indicated six overarching themes: (1) vulnerability factors for coping with C-19 and lockdown; (2) positive and negative impact of lockdown (for autistic individuals, families and professionals); (3) public health response to C-19; (4) service provision during the pandemic; (5) inequalities; and (6) looking to the future. CONCLUSIONS: Professionals, across disciplines and settings, must now work together with autistic individuals and their families, to understand the impact of these extraordinary circumstances and develop ways everyone can be supported more effectively.

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 01:01.

Cited references
59
With a DOI
54
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
4
2 / 59 (3.4%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
0 / 59 (0.0%)
References with detected author names
59 / 59 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
4
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
306
From DOI or external metadata
306
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
50 / 306 (16.3%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 256 / 306 (83.7%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
4 / 306 (1.3%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 4 / 50 (8.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 4 / 294 (1.4%).
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