Expanding Descriptions of Autistic Rituals and Routines: A Co‐Produced Update

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Stephanie, P., Cantwell, A., Clayton, L., Matthews, L., & Angell‐McGregor, S. (2025). Expanding Descriptions of Autistic Rituals and Routines: A Co‐Produced Update. Diversity & Inclusion Research, 2(4), Article e70039. https://doi.org/10.1002/dvr2.70039

Publication date: 28 Sep 2025 Added to AutiHub: 24 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
5
Publication authors identified as autistic
2 / 5 (40.0%)
  1. Petty Stephanie
  2. Amy Cantwell
  3. Lindsay Clayton *
  4. Lucy Matthews *
  5. Stuart Angell‐McGregor

Abstract

ABSTRACT Descriptions of rituals and routines inform autism assessment and diagnosis and remain influential when determining what being autistic means. Currently they present autistic characteristics as problematic. Examples slowly catch‐up with research that shows their personal appearances and meanings. We explored what happens when descriptions of autistic rituals and routines are co‐authored by autistic people. In this qualitative participatory study in the UK, 12 autistic adults contributed via interviews, written exchanges, and data analysis/writing sessions. We identified five themes using codebook thematic analysis: (1) ways of talking about rituals and routines; (2) meanings; (3) visibility; (4) what makes a ritual or routine autistic; and (5) when rituals and routines become detrimental. Rituals were frequently hidden. They had superstitious qualities that achieved a subjective sense of things being ‘OK’. They were behaviours, repetitive thoughts, and mental checks. Whilst there were both positive and negative impacts of performing rituals and routines, it was reliability, necessity, and devotion to them that characterised them as autistic behaviours. There is an important re‐narration of the ‘inflexibility’ or ‘rigidity’ of autistic repetitive behaviours when authored by autistic people, which appreciates the demands of navigating neurotypical‐default environments. Autistic adults emphasised a heavily‐tipped scale in the direction of valuing rituals and routines over censoring them.

Bibliography cited by this reference

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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: 23 Oct 2026 07:41.

Cited references
63
With a DOI
57
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
6
14 / 63 (22.2%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
5 / 63 (7.9%)
References with detected author names
58 / 63 (92.1%)
Without detected author names
5
Without a structured title
5
Without a stable identifier
6
References with raw author names still to review
4
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
227
From DOI or external metadata
227
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
4
133 / 227 (58.6%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 94 / 227 (41.4%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
65 / 227 (28.6%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 65 / 133 (48.9%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 60 / 203 (29.6%).
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