From "since" to "if": using blogs to explore an insider-informed framing of autism

This study was conducted within a series aimed at building understanding of autism using insider perspectives. We applied a descriptive qualitative approach, highlighting meanings that the informants attach to events in their lives. The data were generated by scraping blogs written by autistic authors. We conducted an inductive thematic analysis using an iterative process of coding, collating and reviewing themes. We present the themes using two structures taken from the dataset. The first structure "current trajectories" illustrates with how the bloggers perceive non-autistic people to frame autism, as well as their experiences of effects propagated by this frame. The second structure "preferred trajectories" is rooted in the bloggers' framing of autism and follows their predicted effects that could come about through adoption of this frame. The bloggers' framing of autism challenges the biomedical frame and they convincingly suggest that a public shift to their insider-informed frame would improve their lives. Points of interest For this study, we explored writings of autistic bloggers, to examine how their insider understanding of autism can improve non-autistic peoples' understanding of autism. Compared to portrayals in most academic literature, the bloggers in this study frame autism in a way that is more embodied and more positive, and autistic people as more caring, more insightful and more ready to inform and engage in research. We present the bloggers' perceptions of how dominant framing of autism has impacted their lives as well as their visions of a preferred future in which public perceptions of autism have been informed by autistic people. This study supports the necessity and feasibility of autistic people informing, guiding and engaging in autism research.