The Extent and Nature of Autistic People’s Violence Experiences During Adulthood: A Cross‑sectional Study of Victimisation
Gibbs, Hudson and Pellicano (2022)
Content Warning: Violence, Sexual Assault, Harassment, Sexual Violence, Physical Violence
This article investigates the extent and nature of violence experienced reported by Autistic Adults. The authors had 118 Autistic adults and 110 non-Autistic adults complete a questionnaire about their experiences of sexual harassment, stalking and harassment, sexual violence and physical violence since they were 15 years old. The findings showed that Autistic adults reported higher rates of all types of violence, multiple forms of violence and repeated instances of the same type of violence. More physical violence was reported by men and more sexual violence was reported by women in the non-Autistic group but this was not the same in the Autistic group. The findings highlight the need to identify risk and protective factors, the authors discuss policy and practice implications.
