A Spectrum of Understanding: A Qualitative Exploration of Autistic Adults' Understandings and Perceptions of Friendship(s)

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. The publication reports one autistic author, without identifying them by name.

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Gillespie-Smith, K., Mair, A. P. A., Alabtullatif, A., Pain, H., & McConachie, D. (2024). A Spectrum of Understanding: A Qualitative Exploration of Autistic Adults' Understandings and Perceptions of Friendship(s). Autism in Adulthood, 6(4), 438-450. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2023.0051

Publication date: 16 Feb 2024 Added to AutiHub: 24 Oct 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
5
Autistic authors reported by the publication
1
  1. Karri Gillespie-Smith
  2. Ally Pax Arcari Mair
  3. Aljawharah Alabtullatif
  4. Helen Pain
  5. Doug McConachie

Abstract

Background: Previous research has often documented that friendship is an area of difficulty for autistic people, however this may be caused by a neurotypical understanding of friendship. The current study aimed at adopting a more inclusive account of friendship, involving an autistic participant group representing a range of genders and communication preferences while exploring the following question—What are autistic adults' perceptions of friendships? Method: Participants (n = 20) were interviewed using their preferred method of communication (speaking and non-speaking) during 2021–2022. Results: The results showed that three main themes emerged under an overarching theme of A Spectrum of Understanding: Identity with Others, Sharing Value, and Shared Presence. The inclusive approaches used in the current study allowed under-researched autistic groups such as non-speaking autistic people and autistic people who identify as non-binary to participate in meaningful research. Conclusions: The study offers a new perspective on the Double Empathy theory, suggesting it may be helpful to conceptualize it as a continuum of neuro-cultural learning rather than a distinctive binary centered on an autistic-allistic misunderstanding. Increased understanding of friendships in autistic groups will help to increase awareness of social belonging and support that can protect against poor mental health outcomes.

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: 28 Oct 2026 01:01.

Cited references
66
With a DOI
57
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
9
14 / 66 (21.2%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
2 / 66 (3.0%)
References with detected author names
64 / 66 (97.0%)
Without detected author names
2
Without a structured title
2
Without a stable identifier
9
References with raw author names still to review
2
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
202
From DOI or external metadata
202
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
2
101 / 202 (50.0%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 101 / 202 (50.0%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
22 / 202 (10.9%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 22 / 101 (21.8%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 18 / 181 (9.9%).
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