Reasonable adjustments for autistic clinicians: A qualitative study

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

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Smith, H., Shaw, S. C., Doherty, M., & Ives, J. (2025). Reasonable adjustments for autistic clinicians: A qualitative study. PLOS ONE, 20(3), e0319082. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0319082

Publication date: 25 Mar 2025 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
4
Publication authors identified as autistic
2 / 4 (50.0%)
  1. Helen Smith
  2. Sebastian C.K. Shaw *
  3. Mary Doherty *
  4. Jonathan Ives

Abstract

Autistic people experience barriers to accessing healthcare. Autistic clinical professionals may be able to help improve this situation. Previous research, however, has shown that Autistic clinical professionals experience numerous challenges in the workplace. If there is a 'substantial' and 'long-term' negative effect on the person's ability to do normal daily activities, then Autism may be considered a disability under The Equality Act 2010; the jurisdiction of which covers Great Britain. Autistic clinical professionals working in healthcare settings across England, Wales, and Scotland are therefore entitled to reasonable adjustments to aid them in their clinical practice. This is a qualitative study. We recruited 82 Autistic clinical professionals via social media to complete an online survey. Questions broadly explored: 1) the challenges they faced in their clinical workplaces; and 2) the reasonable adjustments that they needed, had, or needed but did not have. Data were analysed quasi-thematically, also drawing on the principles of content analysis. Respondents reported multiple challenges from our analysis, from which we developed 8 themes: gaining and attending employment, reasonable adjustments under the radar, connecting and integrating (specifically, the communication mismatches between Autistic professionals and non-autistic colleagues, and fitting in socially and professionally), executive functioning, change, working environment, working practices/cultures, and the consequences and effects on Autistic clinical professionals). We recommend that Autistic clinical professionals and their employers individually discuss and iteratively revisit the unique combination of reasonable adjustments suitable for each person. In this way, employers may provide equitable workplaces for their staff which will benefit not only them, but their patients, and healthcare as a whole.

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 08:01.

Cited references
41
With a DOI
21
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
19
11 / 41 (26.8%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
14 / 41 (34.1%)
References with detected author names
38 / 41 (92.7%)
Without detected author names
3
Without a structured title
14
Without a stable identifier
19
References with raw author names still to review
1
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
149
From DOI or external metadata
149
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
1
71 / 149 (47.7%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 78 / 149 (52.3%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
33 / 149 (22.1%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 33 / 71 (46.5%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 20 / 127 (15.7%).
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