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Dr Amy Pearson's Outputs (25)

Exploring the Social and Emotional Impact of Puberty and Adolescence on Autistic People Assigned Female at Birth (2025)
Journal Article
Fearon, B., Pearson, A., & Kapp, S. K. (online). Exploring the Social and Emotional Impact of Puberty and Adolescence on Autistic People Assigned Female at Birth. Autism in Adulthood, https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2024.0298

Background: Emerging research suggests puberty and adolescence may be particularly difficult for autistic people assigned female at birth (AFAB), but there is currently very little exploration of this transition from a lived experience perspective. I... Read More about Exploring the Social and Emotional Impact of Puberty and Adolescence on Autistic People Assigned Female at Birth.

Using Q Methodology, a group of Neurodivergent Neurodiversity Scholars ask, What is the Neurodiversity Movement, and What Should It Do? (2025)
Journal Article
Stenner, P., Pearson, A., Kapp, S., Watson, C., Pressler, R., Williams, G., Bertilsdotter-Rosqvist, H., Hultman, L., Semmens-Wheeler, R., & Botha, M. (in press). Using Q Methodology, a group of Neurodivergent Neurodiversity Scholars ask, What is the Neurodiversity Movement, and What Should It Do?. Neurodiversity,

This paper describes the eight phases of an innovative procedure for collective and reflexive research about neurodiversity. Structured by Q methodology, this procedure allowed a small group (n=10) of neurodivergent researchers to identify and discus... Read More about Using Q Methodology, a group of Neurodivergent Neurodiversity Scholars ask, What is the Neurodiversity Movement, and What Should It Do?.

“It has shown me how much I am capable of”: An Exploration of Autistic Burnout Experiences in Motherhood (2024)
Journal Article
Pearson, A., Ferguson, A., & Martin, D. (online). “It has shown me how much I am capable of”: An Exploration of Autistic Burnout Experiences in Motherhood. Autism in Adulthood, https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2024.0282

Background: Research has highlighted a relationship between autistic motherhood and autistic burnout, though autistic mothers’ experiences of autistic burnout have not been explored in depth.

Method: To address this research gap, we used a partic... Read More about “It has shown me how much I am capable of”: An Exploration of Autistic Burnout Experiences in Motherhood.

“It's a long process, and it's a long journey”: Autistic adult’s experiences of support and recovery after experiencing intimate violence and abuse (2024)
Journal Article
Pearson, A., Botha, M., Rose, K., Mitchell, A., Joseph, W., Douglas, S., & Sedgewick, F. (online). “It's a long process, and it's a long journey”: Autistic adult’s experiences of support and recovery after experiencing intimate violence and abuse. Autism in Adulthood, https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2024.0146

Background: Many services designed to support victim/survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) do not have a specific focus on, or understanding of neurodivergence, which may impact autistic access to meaningful support. The aim of this project wa... Read More about “It's a long process, and it's a long journey”: Autistic adult’s experiences of support and recovery after experiencing intimate violence and abuse.

“It's not a physical prison but you can't get out”. How autistic adults make sense of the experience of intimate violence and abuse (2024)
Journal Article
Pearson, A., Rose, K., Mitchell, A., Joseph, W., Douglas, S., Sedgewick, F., & Botha, M. (online). “It's not a physical prison but you can't get out”. How autistic adults make sense of the experience of intimate violence and abuse. Autism in Adulthood, https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2024.0145

Background: Autistic people are more likely to experience intimate partner violence (IPV) than non-autistic peers, but our knowledge about how they recognise abuse and make sense of what has happened to them is sparse. The aim of this study was to ex... Read More about “It's not a physical prison but you can't get out”. How autistic adults make sense of the experience of intimate violence and abuse.

“You Are the Expert of Your Own Experience”: A Thematic Analysis of Experiences of Autism and Gender Diversity in Adulthood (2024)
Journal Article
Glackin, A., Pearson, A., & Davis, R. (2024). “You Are the Expert of Your Own Experience”: A Thematic Analysis of Experiences of Autism and Gender Diversity in Adulthood. Autism in Adulthood, 6(3), 300-311. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2022.0111

Background: Autistic people are more likely to report gender dysphoric traits, and transgender and gender-expansive individuals frequently report higher scores on self-report measures of autistic traits. Despite the clear association between autism a... Read More about “You Are the Expert of Your Own Experience”: A Thematic Analysis of Experiences of Autism and Gender Diversity in Adulthood.

"Comforting, Reassuring, and…Hot": A Qualitative Exploration of Engaging in Bondage, Discipline, Domination, Submission, Sadism and (Sado)masochism and Kink from the Perspective of Autistic Adults. (2024)
Journal Article
Pearson, A., & Hodgetts, S. (2024). "Comforting, Reassuring, and…Hot": A Qualitative Exploration of Engaging in Bondage, Discipline, Domination, Submission, Sadism and (Sado)masochism and Kink from the Perspective of Autistic Adults. Autism in Adulthood, 6(1), 25-35. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2022.0103

There is a lack of research on autistic intimacy; however, a small body of research suggests that bondage, discipline, domination, submission, sadism and (sado)masochism (BDSM)/kink may be appealing to autistic people. We aimed at exploring how engag... Read More about "Comforting, Reassuring, and…Hot": A Qualitative Exploration of Engaging in Bondage, Discipline, Domination, Submission, Sadism and (Sado)masochism and Kink from the Perspective of Autistic Adults..

Diagnosis as a new beginning not an end: A participatory photovoice study on navigating an autism diagnosis in adulthood (2024)
Journal Article
Cage, E., Botha, M., McDevitt, L., King, K. N., Biscoe, L., Tucker, K., & Pearson, A. (online). Diagnosis as a new beginning not an end: A participatory photovoice study on navigating an autism diagnosis in adulthood. Autism, 28(8), https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613231220418

Autistic people diagnosed in adulthood often report that the experience can be life-changing, but there are issues with the diagnostic pathway. Few studies consider the views of people currently seeking diagnosis or contextualise the experience of di... Read More about Diagnosis as a new beginning not an end: A participatory photovoice study on navigating an autism diagnosis in adulthood.

Anti-ableist language is fully compatible with high-quality autism research: Response to Singer et al. (2023) (2023)
Journal Article
Natri, H. M., Abubakare, O., Asasumasu, K., Basargekar, A., Beaud, F., Botha, M., Bottema-Beutel, K., Brea, M. R., Brown, L. X. Z., Burr, D. A., Cobbaert, L., Dabbs, C., Denome, D., Rosa, S. D. R., Doherty, M., Edwards, B., Edwards, C., Liszk, S. E., Elise, F., Fletcher-Watson, S., …Zisk, A. H. (2023). Anti-ableist language is fully compatible with high-quality autism research: Response to Singer et al. (2023). Autism Research, 16(4), 673-676. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2928

What can neurodiversity tell us about inner speech, and vice versa? A theoretical perspective (2023)
Journal Article
Alderson-Day, B., & Pearson, A. (2023). What can neurodiversity tell us about inner speech, and vice versa? A theoretical perspective. Cortex, 168, 193-202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2023.08.008

Inner speech refers to the experience of talking to oneself in one's head. While notoriously challenging to investigate, it has also been central to a range of questions concerning mind, brain, and behaviour. Posited as a key component in executive f... Read More about What can neurodiversity tell us about inner speech, and vice versa? A theoretical perspective.

Being, Knowing, and Doing: Importing Theoretical Toolboxes for Autism Studies (2023)
Journal Article
Rosqvist, H. B., Botha, M., Hens, K., O'Donoghue, S., Pearson, A., & Stenning, A. (2023). Being, Knowing, and Doing: Importing Theoretical Toolboxes for Autism Studies. Autism in Adulthood, 5(1), 15-23. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2022.0021

The aim of this article was to think with and elaborate on theories developed outside of autism research and the autistic community, and through this support the production of new autistic-led theories: theories and concepts based on autistic people'... Read More about Being, Knowing, and Doing: Importing Theoretical Toolboxes for Autism Studies.

From Puzzle to Progress: How Engaging With Neurodiversity Can Improve Cognitive Science (2023)
Journal Article
Manalili, M. A. R., Pearson, A., Sulik, J., Creechan, L., Elsherif, M., Murkumbi, I., Azevedo, F., Bonnen, K. L., Kim, J., Kording, K., Lee, J. J., Obscura, M., Kapp, S. K., Röer, J. P., & Morstead, T. (2023). From Puzzle to Progress: How Engaging With Neurodiversity Can Improve Cognitive Science. Cognitive Science: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 47(2), Article e13255. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.13255

In cognitive science, there is a tacit norm that phenomena such as cultural variation or synaesthesia are worthy examples of cognitive diversity that contribute to a better understanding of cognition, but that other forms of cognitive diversity (e.g.... Read More about From Puzzle to Progress: How Engaging With Neurodiversity Can Improve Cognitive Science.

Cutting our own keys: New possibilities of neurodivergent storying in research (2022)
Journal Article
Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, H., Botha, M., Hens, K., O’Donoghue, S., Pearson, A., & Stenning, A. (2023). Cutting our own keys: New possibilities of neurodivergent storying in research. Autism, 27(5), 1235-1244. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613221132107

Increasingly, neurodivergent people are sharing their own narratives and conducting their own research. Prominent individuals have integrated the ‘nothing about us without us’ slogan, used by neurodivergent and other disabled social activists, into a... Read More about Cutting our own keys: New possibilities of neurodivergent storying in research.

‘I felt like I deserved it because I was autistic’: Understanding the impact of interpersonal victimisation in the lives of autistic people (2022)
Journal Article
Pearson, A., Rose, K., & Rees, J. (2023). ‘I felt like I deserved it because I was autistic’: Understanding the impact of interpersonal victimisation in the lives of autistic people. Autism, 27(2), 500-511. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613221104546

Research suggests that there is a high prevalence of interpersonal violence and victimisation within the autistic population, and that this accounts for poor mental health outcomes. This study aimed to examine the impact of interpersonal violence and... Read More about ‘I felt like I deserved it because I was autistic’: Understanding the impact of interpersonal victimisation in the lives of autistic people.

"This Was Just How This Friendship Worked": Experiences of Interpersonal Victimization among Autistic Adults (2022)
Journal Article
Pearson, A., Rees, J., & Forster, S. (2022). "This Was Just How This Friendship Worked": Experiences of Interpersonal Victimization among Autistic Adults. Autism in Adulthood, 4(2), 141-150. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2021.0035

Background: The victimization of autistic people by familiar others (interpersonal victimization) is an understudied phenomenon despite suggestions that prevalence rates may be disproportionately high. We know very little about the way autistic peopl... Read More about "This Was Just How This Friendship Worked": Experiences of Interpersonal Victimization among Autistic Adults.

‘I can actually do it without any help or someone watching over me all the time and giving me constant instruction’: Autistic adolescent boys' perspectives on engagement in online video gaming (2022)
Journal Article
Pavlopoulou, G., Usher, C., & Pearson, A. (2022). ‘I can actually do it without any help or someone watching over me all the time and giving me constant instruction’: Autistic adolescent boys' perspectives on engagement in online video gaming. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 40(4), 557-571. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12424

Research into autistic adolescents' engagement in online gaming has so far focused on time spent gaming, or characterizing problematic gaming behaviour and has relied mostly on caregiver report. In the current study, we interviewed 12 autistic adoles... Read More about ‘I can actually do it without any help or someone watching over me all the time and giving me constant instruction’: Autistic adolescent boys' perspectives on engagement in online video gaming.