Exploring Identity Importance for Autistic Adults and Associations with Disclosure Experiences: A Brief Report

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Love, A. M., Cai, R. Y., Edwards, C., & Gibbs, V. (2023). Exploring Identity Importance for Autistic Adults and Associations with Disclosure Experiences: A Brief Report. Autism in Adulthood, 5(4), 450-456. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2023.0005

Publication date: 25 May 2023 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
4
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 4 (25.0%)
  1. Abigail M.A. Love
  2. Ru Ying Cai
  3. Chris Edwards *
  4. Vicki Gibbs

Abstract

Background: A strong autistic identity can help to support mental well-being, reduce anxiety and depression, increase self-esteem, and strengthen a shared community for autistic people. Autistic people are regularly faced with a decision to disclose their autistic identity to others and report a range of experiences after disclosure. The purpose of this brief report was to examine the association between identity and disclosure decisions in a sample of autistic adults to gather preliminary evidence justifying future research. Specifically, we were interested in learning more about how autistic identity is associated with one's approach to disclosure, while also exploring associations with other identities such as ethnic, gender, sexual, and religious identity. Methods: Participants (N = 111) completed an online questionnaire about their intersecting identities and their approach to disclosure. The research team that conducted this study was composed of both autistic and nonautistic researchers. Results: Results demonstrated that participants who felt their autistic identity and sexual identity were highly important also reported frequent disclosure of being autistic. Religious, gender, and ethnic identity were not associated with one's disclosure decisions or their disclosure outcomes. Conclusion: Overall, the results of this study emphasize the link between autistic and sexual identities and autism disclosure, but more research in this space is needed to better support the wider autism community.

Bibliography cited by this reference

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Bibliography inclusion overview

These indicators describe the cited bibliography imported for this publication. Cited-reference metrics use the cited-reference total as denominator. Cited-author metrics state whether they use all cited-author occurrences or only occurrences linked to authors already integrated in the AutiHub database. They use cached links between cited authors and authors integrated in the AutiHub database. Last computed: 16 Aug 2026 11:30.

Cited references
29
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
3 / 29 (10.3%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
3 / 97 (3.1%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 3 / 46 (6.5%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 3 / 89 (3.4%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
46 / 97 (47.4%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 41 / 89 (46.1%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
43 / 46 (93.5%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 43 / 97 (44.3%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 38 / 41 (92.7%).
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