“That’s Basically Just Like Me in High School”: Using Shared Reading Ethnography With Autistic Adults

• In Event: I-Presentation Gallery

Abstract

Autistic people must be at the forefront of any decisions made to support them, and autistic adults are a mostly untapped resource to learn how well the education system is doing in providing that support. However, surveys or structured interviews are not optimal approaches to learn from autistics. To better draw on their lived experience and involve them as partners in research I engaged my participants in Shared Reading Ethnography, a method where we read a science fiction novel about an autistic character, written by an autistic author, together and discussed our reactions. Using the novel as common ground, and as a way of enhancing autobiographical recollection, rich ethnographic material can be produced.

Author

• Ryan Collis, York University