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Background

Lii Brooke, autistic doctoral researcher and mental health therapist, presenting at a doctoral conference at Sheffield Hallam university.

Aims & objectives

The study challenges the pathologising view of autism (American Psychiatric Association, 2022) by drawing attention to autistic success and wellness (Lam et al., 2021). In a move away from the negative implications of the medical model (Bertilsdotter Rosqvist et al., 2020) the study builds on Beardon’s idea of autism as a “high-risk disadvantage” (2022, p. 161) by analysing how much an autistic person’s own understanding of autism influences their life outcomes.

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The objectives of the research are to explore:

  • insights about success and wellness within statistical clusters of participants

  • relationships between personal beliefs and life outcomes

  • common themes in narratives of success and sense of identity

  • positive impact of environment on autistic wellbeing

Scope

The study seeks to gain insight into the themes of success and wellness in a segment of the autistic population in the UK, formally diagnosed or self-identifying autistic adults without intellectual disability. 

The research is set within the pragmatist paradigm (Maarouf, 2019) and pluralist ontology (Caplan, 2011). The project adopts pragmatist epistemological perspective (Legg & Hookway, 2024) through a mixed method design (Subedi, 2023). Reflexivity is a key characteristic of the study to guard against ethnocentrism and lead researcher’s personal biases.

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Research questions


Quantitative:

  • What contextualised insights about success and wellness emerge from grouping the participants’ data using statistical clustering?

  • For each cluster, to what extent does personal meaning of autism explain life outcomes?

  • For each cluster, to what extent do personal beliefs about success explain life outcomes?


Qualitative:

The qualitative research questions will be collaboratively developed with autistic participants. The wording below is provisional.

  • What are the common themes in autistic people’s understanding of life success and wellness? 

  • What features of their environment do autistic people find contribute positively to their sense of wellbeing?

  • What are the common themes in life stories of autistic adults, who believe themselves to be successful? 

Context

A positive sense of self and a belief in positive change are fundamental to mental and physical wellbeing (Davidson et al., 1992; Lumbreras, 2024). A deficit-based perspective on autism can contribute to negative self-view (Wright et al., 2020) and social marginalisation of autistic people (Anderson-Chavarria, 2021). Chown et al. (2023) identified from analysis of autism studies that health and wellbeing are a research priority for the autism community. The authors suggest that future research should focus on facilitating empowerment of autistic people.

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Henninger and Taylor (2012) carried out a historical overview of life outcomes for autistic adults and, given the prevalence of the self-perpetuating tragedy narrative, found that most of the research pieces pointed to poor outcomes. Henninger and Taylor highlighted that “the person-environment fit could reveal a more optimistic picture” (2012, p.103). This view is supported by several other academics’ perspectives including Beardon’s golden rule of “autism + environment = outcome” (2022, p.160) and Hollingdale et al. finding that “some impairments may result from a mismatch between the autistic person and their environment” (2025, p.1).

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A recent study by Wassell (2025) on autistic joy challenges the tragedy narratives by highlighting that most of the autistic participants delight in activities of their choice, some of which, like engaging in special interests, are pathologised under the deficit definition of autism.

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It is difficult to reconcile the evident possibility of autistic thriving with the disorder or condition definitions of autism. There are few studies exploring positive autistic experiences, for example Chow and Cooper (2026) state that research on self-reported autistic strengths remains rare; fewer studies still consider the influence of personal understanding of autism in autistic people’s wellbeing (Najeeb & Quadt, 2024). It appears that outside the medical context, most autism research is qualitative and relatively small-scale. The proposed study addresses the subject and methodology gap.

Impact & contribution to knowledge

Despite there being support for mixed method approach in sociological studies (Östlund et al., 2011; Pearce, 2012), the methodology remains underused in autism research. The study addresses the opportunity for methodological development and provides evidence for an alternative to pathology-based understanding of autism. 

The study is a useful component for further statistically-sound exploration of the complexity of autistic realities.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787

Anderson-Chavarria, M. (2022). The autism predicament: Models of autism and their impact on autistic identity. Disability & Society, 37(8), 1321–1341. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2021.1877117

Beardon, L. (2022). Autopia. In D. Milton & S. Ryan (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of critical autism studies (pp. 159–164). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003056577

Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, H., Stenning, A., & Chown, N. (Eds.). (2020). Neurodiversity studies: A new critical paradigm. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429322297

Caplan, B. (2011). Ontological superpluralism. Philosophical Perspectives, 25, 79–114. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1520-8583.2011.00209.x

Chow, C., & Cooper, K. (2026) What are the lived experiences of strengths in autistic individuals? A systematic review and thematic synthesis. Autism in Adulthood. 8(1), 14-26. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2023.0172

Chown, N., Beardon, L., Murphy, S. L., Suckle, E., & Baker-Rogers, J. (2023). Autism community research priorities: The potential of future research to benefit autistics. Canadian Journal of Educational and Social Studies, 3(2), 15–32. https://doi.org/10.53103/cjess.v3i2.118

Davidson, L., & Strauss, J.S. (1992). Sense of self in recovery from severe mental illness. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 65(2), 131-145. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8341.1992.tb01693.x

Henninger, N. A., & Taylor, J. L. (2013). Outcomes in adults with autism spectrum disorders: A historical perspective. Autism, 17(1), 103–116. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361312441266

Hollingdale, J., Woodhouse, E., & Deeley, Q. (2025). The role of impairment in the diagnosis of autism. The British Journal of Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2025.12

Lam, G. Y. H., Sabnis, S., Migueliz Valcarlos, M., & Wolgemuth, J. R. (2021). A Critical review of academic literature constructing well-being in autistic adults. Autism in Adulthood, 3(1), 61–71. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2020.0053

Legg, C., & Hookway, C. (2024). Pragmatism. In E. N. Zalta & U. Nodelman (Eds.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2024 ed.). Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2024/entries/pragmatism/​

Lumbreras, S. (2024). The mental diet: Choosing beliefs to improve wellbeing. Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion, 21(5), 535–549. https://doi.org/10.51327/kqku9405

Maarouf, H. (2019). Pragmatism as a supportive paradigm for the mixed research approach: conceptualizing the ontological, epistemological, and axiological stances of pragmatism. International Business Research, 12(9), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.5539/ibr.v12n9p1

Najeeb, P., & Quadt, L. (2024). Autistic well-being: A scoping review of scientific studies from a neurodiversity-affirmative perspective. Neurodiversity, 2. https://doi.org/10.1177/27546330241233088

Östlund, U., Kidd, L., Wengström, Y., & Rowa-Dewar, N. (2011). Combining qualitative and quantitative research within mixed method research designs: A methodological review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 48(3), 369-383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2010.10.005

Pearce, L. D. (2012). Mixed methods inquiry in sociology. American Behavioral Scientist, 56(6), 829-848. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764211433798

Subedi, M. (2023). Use of mixed methods in social sciences research. Nepalese Journal of Development and Rural Studies, 20(01), 96–105. https://doi.org/10.3126/njdrs.v20i01.64166

Wassell, E. (2025). Experiences of autistic joy. Disability & Society, 41(1), 236-261. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2025.2498417​​

Wright, B., Spikins, P., & Pearson, H. (2020). Should autism spectrum conditions be characterised in a more positive way in our modern world? Medicina. 56(5), 233. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina56050233

Last updated: 11.07.26

Cite this page: Brooke, L. (2026). Autism research: success and wellness. Towards Meaning Counselling. https://www.towardsmeaningcounselling.co.uk/autism-research-background

About the author

Lii Brooke is a Doctoral Researcher in Autism Studies at Sheffield Hallam University, supervised by Dr Luke Beardon and Dr Stephen Connolly. Her research investigates how autistic adults' own understanding of autism shapes their life outcomes, situated within the pragmatist paradigm and using a participatory mixed-method design.

Academic and professional credentials

  • Doctoral Researcher in Autism Studies, Sheffield Hallam University staff profile

  • Postgraduate Certificate in Autism with Distinction, Sheffield Hallam University (2025)

  • Accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP Accred., 405425)

  • Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling, Windsor Forest Colleges Group (2023)

 

Alongside her research, Lii runs a private counselling practice in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, and online across the UK and Republic of Ireland, supporting autistic professionals in demanding careers with burnout recovery and masking reduction. Her clinical work informs and is informed by her doctoral research.

 

Read more about Lii

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