Stepping Out of Isolation: Autistic People and COVID-19

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

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den Houting, J. (2020). Stepping Out of Isolation: Autistic People and COVID-19. Autism in Adulthood, 2(2), 103-105. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2020.29012.jdh

Publication date: 16 Apr 2020 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)
  1. Jacquiline den Houting *

Abstract

When I received the e-mail inviting me to author this editorial, I was halfway through my second day of self-imposed isolation. A COVID-19-related lockdown was not yet in place in my area, but I had developed mild cold symptoms and chosen to err on the side of caution. Between responding to e-mails and writing an ethics application, that day I found myself in tears more times than I care to admit. As an autistic adult, the sudden loss of my comfortable work routine was difficult. Coupled with the constant media coverage of illness and death, global lockdowns, and panic buying, the anxiety that I—and ∼40% of autistic people—live with on a daily basis had peaked. I am lucky to have enough privilege that I will likely weather this particular crisis well. I have stable employment that I can continue from home, which will afford me a regular income for the foreseeable future. I am relatively young and physically healthy, meaning that if (or when) I do contract COVID-19, I am at low risk for serious complications. Although I am disabled and usually receive support from various professionals, I am able to look after my own essential daily needs and can get by without that support in the short term to medium term, if needed. I also live in Australia, a country with a robust public health care system that, although far from perfect, is better placed to manage this pandemic than many other countries. And, by lucky coincidence, I bought a bulk pack of toilet paper a week before the panic buying broke out. Despite all this, I am still struggling to cope with the current state of the world. Spare a thought, then, for those who are likely to fare far worse than me during this crisis. (...).

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 01:00.

Cited references
17
With a DOI
15
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
2
2 / 17 (11.8%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
2 / 17 (11.8%)
References with detected author names
15 / 17 (88.2%)
Without detected author names
2
Without a structured title
2
Without a stable identifier
2
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
93
From DOI or external metadata
93
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
2
41 / 93 (44.1%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 52 / 93 (55.9%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
8 / 93 (8.6%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 8 / 41 (19.5%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 5 / 83 (6.0%).
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