“A Group of Fellow Travellers Who Understand”: Interviews With Autistic People About Post-diagnostic Peer Support in Adulthood

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

About the autistic author marker

Crompton, C. J., Hallett, S., McAuliffe, C., Stanfield, A. C., & Fletcher-Watson, S. (2022). “A Group of Fellow Travellers Who Understand”: Interviews With Autistic People About Post-diagnostic Peer Support in Adulthood. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 831628-831628. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.831628

Publication date: 7 Mar 2022 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
5
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 5 (20.0%)

Abstract

Receiving a diagnosis of autism in adulthood can be a life changing event, impacting identity, relationships, and mental health. A lack of post-diagnostic support has been highlighted by autistic adults, their allies, clinicians, and service providers. It can be a source of distress for autistic adults, reinforcing feelings of social isolation and rejection. Peer support could be a cost-effective, flexible, and sustainable model to provide community-based support for autistic adults. However, there is little research on the value of peer support, despite calls from the autistic community. This qualitative study explored autistic experiences and needs post-diagnosis, identifying specific ways that peer support may benefit them, and exploring the limitations of peer support. Twelve autistic adults who had all received an autism diagnosis in adulthood completed a semi-structured interview focussing on the diagnostic experience, post-diagnostic support needed and provided, engagement with the autistic community, and post-diagnostic peer support. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts resulted in four themes: (1) Mismatch in support needed and provided; (2) Community connection; (3) Flexible and personalised support; and (4) Sustainability. Participants indicated that peer support may be a useful mechanism to support autistic adults' post-diagnosis and offers unique opportunities not available through other support channels. Though informal peer support exists, it could be more sustainable and effective if well-supported and funded.

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 01:40.

Cited references
69
With a DOI
62
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
6
14 / 69 (20.3%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
1 / 69 (1.4%)
References with detected author names
69 / 69 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
Without a structured title
1
Without a stable identifier
6
References with raw author names still to review
0
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
225
From DOI or external metadata
225
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
112 / 225 (49.8%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 113 / 225 (50.2%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
16 / 225 (7.1%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 16 / 112 (14.3%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 15 / 194 (7.7%).
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