research
Understanding autism
Autism has been very much misunderstood in the past . Concerned that Australians are seemingly ignorant of autism , researchers at Curtin University reached out to people without autism to find out what the public really does know .
Dr Marita Falkmer ( pictured above ) from the School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work at Curtin University , and member of the Autism Collaborative Research Centre , said the study came about after Joel Wilson , a colleague with autism working on the research team posted on the Curtin Autism Research Facebook page , asking people with autism what topics they would like researched .
“ Luckily , we could engage a brilliant honors student , Rebecca Kuzminski , to help execute the project ,” Dr Falkmer said .
Dr Falkmer said the most profound response coming from the autism community was that people with autism felt misunderstood and wanted to know why the community was seemingly ignorant about autism .
“ We think people with autism feel misunderstood partly because not everyone has a good understanding of autism , and not everyone has spent time around someone with autism ,” she said .
“ We found spending time with someone with autism is important in shaping people ’ s attitudes .”
While the results from the study will be published early next year , preliminary data shows relatively positive levels of knowledge about autism , but much less knowledge of how autism can be experienced by people with autism .
Dr Falkmer said the largely positive attitude towards autism in the results so far could be due to many of the survey respondents reporting they know someone with autism .
Misconceptions about autism often manifest from inaccuracies in the media , according to Dr Falkmer . “ For example , portrayals of characters in popular media may show a portrayal of a person with autism in a way that a lot of people with autism may actually disagree with ,” Dr Falkmer said .
“ This could be due to the way this person is seen to behave , and how that character is viewed by other characters . To me the most important thing in media is that one portrayal of a character with autism will never fit the array of presentations of autism characteristics that occur across the community .
“ After all , autism is a spectrum disorder with a range of varying presentations . For a general public that ’ s unaware autism is a spectrum disorder , this could potentially misinform them about autism .”
Link will publish a special feature on autism in our April edition . www . curtin . edu . au
Ramp up rehab
Rehabilitation needs to be ramped up to improve lives and save money , according to leading rehabilitation research group , the Hopkins Centre .
The Hopkins Centre , a joint initiative of Griffith University and Brisbane ’ s Metro South Health Service , argues that rehabilitation represents both value for money and better outcomes .
The centre hosted its first international research symposium late last year , presenting
48 research linkonline . com . au