“Just Ask Me”: The Importance of Respectful Relationships Within Schools

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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Brownlow, C., Lawson, W., Pillay, Y., Mahony, J., & Abawi, D. (2021). “Just Ask Me”: The Importance of Respectful Relationships Within Schools. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 678264-678264. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.678264

Publication date: 15 Jun 2021 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
5
Publication authors identified as autistic
2 / 5 (40.0%)
  1. Charlotte Brownlow
  2. Wenn Lawson *
  3. Yosheen Pillay
  4. Joanne Mahony *
  5. Ding Abawi

Abstract

An inclusive approach to education requires schools and educators to address the support needs and individual predispositions of all students. Our research highlights the crucial importance of effective and respectful communication with autistic students to facilitate their successful participation in schools. This paper explores the experiences of 24 autistic individuals aged 16-67 years, through synchronous semi-structured interviews and written responses. The research team comprised both autistic and allistic (non-autistic) researchers, who worked together to design the overall project, collect interview data, and analyse the data. Relationships were frequently discussed by participants and the importance of positive relationships was positioned as key to successful participation within educational contexts. Particularly damaging were assumptions made by teachers concerning individual ability based on labels given. Participants recalled ongoing challenges with resisting stereotypes and managing stigma, while trying to craft a positive autistic identity and advocate for rightful supports for their education. At the core of these negotiations were positive relationships, and teachers who asked participants what their needs were, and then listened and proactively responded to their answers. Recommendations for more positive schooling engagements with autistic young people are provided.

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 17:07.

Cited references
22
With a DOI
15
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
6
5 / 22 (22.7%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
3 / 22 (13.6%)
References with detected author names
19 / 22 (86.4%)
Without detected author names
3
Without a structured title
3
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
47
From DOI or external metadata
47
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
26 / 47 (55.3%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 21 / 47 (44.7%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
6 / 47 (12.8%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 6 / 26 (23.1%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 6 / 47 (12.8%).
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