‘Making the world safer for them to be themselves…’

A Chartered Psychologist has won the Rosalind Franklin Society Award in Science for her research, which explored the abuse that autistic people experience at the hands of someone they know. 
Dr Amy Pearson (University of Sunderland) spoke to Ella Rhodes about her work and her personal motivation to study the experiences of autistic people.

The Rosalind Franklin Society is an international society which recognises, fosters, and advances the important contributions of women in science and its annual award in science celebrates the outstanding research of women and underrepresented minority scientists, physicians, and engineers. Pearson said she was absolutely delighted to win the award. 'The paper was a labour of love, and for it to be recognised by an international panel was one of my proudest career moments to date.'

Pearson and her University of Sunderland co-authors Dr Jon Rees and Samantha Forster recruited 43 autistic adults to take part in a qualitative online study and asked about their experiences of being victimised or taken advantage of by people they knew. The findings of the paper, 'This Was Just How This Friendship Worked': Experiences of Interpersonal Victimization Among Autistic Adults, published in Autism in Adulthood, suggested that autistic adults experienced victimisation from a range of close others, and may find it difficult to recognise when someone is acting in an abusive manner.

Pearson said she had previously spoken to autistic adults who had experienced victimisation from those they knew and completed a small qualitative study with Forster – who was then a Masters student and is now completing her PhD. 'The study that won the award explored the issues raised in this study with a larger number of people. The findings, sadly, weren't surprising at all. Statistics suggest that 50 to 90 per cent of autistic people have been victimised by someone they know, so we knew it was a major issue, but our research suggests that the scope and impact of this kind of abuse is far-reaching and needs some serious intervention.'

Pearson started her career researching social cognition among autistic people and after her PhD, she said she spent time shifting her thoughts on autism – moving from a medical model understanding to a neurodiversity paradigm. 'I wanted to do work that could have an impact on the everyday lives of autistic people, and that met their priorities in terms of what kind of research they thought would be most useful. My interest in autism has always been personal – my brother was diagnosed in childhood, and I realised through my work with autistic people that I was also autistic myself, leading to an adult diagnosis.'

Pearson's current research focuses on understanding factors that impact on well-being among autistic people across the lifespan with a particular interest in interpersonal relationships and victimisation, social identity, and stigma. Pearson said she hoped to use the findings from the research on the impact of victimisation to explore what can be done about it, how to prevent it, and how to support those who have experienced it.

'I also conduct research into autistic identity, including stigma and masking. I'd love to understand how autistic identity develops, and how we can encourage a positive sense of identity among autistic people, making the world safer for them to be themselves.'