Neurodivergent people who have previously gone missing.

Albus_Scope

This is posted on behalf of Missing people:

Missing People is a charity that provides a wide range of services supporting and advocating for missing children, adults, and families with a missing loved one. We are currently conducting a research project exploring the relationship between autism and missing so that we can better advocate on behalf of autistic people who go missing, ensure our own services are best meeting their needs, and publish good practice guidance for professionals.  

 We would really like to reach as many autistic people with lived experience of going missing or running away as possible who might be willing to take part – as well as any friends, family, or acquaintances who may also be keen to share their experiences around their autistic loved one going missing.  

 For an overview of the research, with details about how autistic people with lived experience can take part, please click here. For details about how family, friends or acquaintances of any autistic people that have previously gone missing can take part.

 Please see the web link about the research 

 

Anyone with lived experience who would like to contribute to the research and meets the necessary criteria (autistic, has been missing/run away at any time in their life, based in the UK, and is now 18 or over) can choose to share their experiences with us in either, or both, of the following ways: 

 

• Completing our online survey: this should take anywhere between 5 to 20 minutes to complete, depending on how much detail participants are willing to share. You can view the survey questions without submitting recorded responses through the following preview link: Survey Preview Window (smartsurvey.co.uk). To complete the survey officially, participants can do so through the following link: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/MissingAutism/    

 

• Taking part in an interview: interviews will likely take around one hour and will be led by a member of our research team who is autistic himself, Ross, with support from one of our friendly and patient research colleagues. We know the idea of doing an interview can be intimidating, so we are taking measures to reduce participants’ anxiety and make the interviews as accessible as possible. For example, all participants will be sent their interview questions a few weeks in advance so they know exactly what to expect and can prepare responses ahead of time if needed. We are also happy to allow someone to join participants during their interview for support or to help with any communication difficulties, and to make any other adjustments necessary to help people with different needs to take part (such as non-verbal, text-based and picture-based interview formats, and a wide range of other accommodations on request). Please see our Interview Information Form for more details.