“Living Independently Means Everything to Me”: The Voice of Australian Autistic Adults

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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AlAnsari, M., Edwards, C., & gibbs, v. (2023). “Living Independently Means Everything to Me”: The Voice of Australian Autistic Adults. Autism in Adulthood, 6(3), 312-320. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2022.0102

Publication date: 6 Sep 2023 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
3
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 3 (33.3%)
  1. Mustafa AlAnsari
  2. Chris Edwards *
  3. vicki gibbs

Abstract

Background: Despite the desire of many autistic adults to live independently, recent studies suggest that only about one in six autistic adults do. This includes living alone, with a partner, or with friends. This is a rate that is lower than adults with other disabilities. Existing studies from other countries have explored the potential barriers to independent living, with very few exploring the actual experiences of autistic adults. To the best of our knowledge, there have been no published studies exploring the firsthand moving out experiences of autistic adults globally and none that have explored their independent living experiences in Australia. Methods: Autistic adults with independent living experience in Australia were invited to partake in an interview to understand their moving out and independent living experiences. Interviews were held virtually, audio recorded, and transcribed. Transcriptions were coded in NVivo and thematically analyzed. Results: A total of 11 autistic adults were interviewed (aged 21-50 years). Three key themes were derived from the interviews. Autistic adults perceived independent living as important to have their own space with added autonomy and control (Theme 1). However, autistic adults shared that the moving out process and independent living comes with many challenges, and currently supports are limited (Theme 2). Nine of the 11 participants were diagnosed as adults, and they shared the importance of diagnosis and how an earlier diagnosis may have influenced their choice of accommodation and living arrangements (Theme 3). Conclusions: Findings from this study reiterate the importance of independent living to autistic adults and shed light on the challenges of transitioning to independent living. It further adds to the growing literature about the importance of early diagnosis on later life choices. Better pathways toward adult diagnosis and the provision of supports for the moving out process would be useful to ease transition to independent living for autistic adults.

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
42
With a DOI
36
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
6
4 / 42 (9.5%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
4 / 42 (9.5%)
References with detected author names
38 / 42 (90.5%)
Without detected author names
4
Without a structured title
4
Without a stable identifier
6
References with raw author names still to review
4
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
155
From DOI or external metadata
155
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
7
75 / 155 (48.4%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 80 / 155 (51.6%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
9 / 155 (5.8%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 9 / 75 (12.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 8 / 145 (5.5%).
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