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The following critical question is the first question in a series of questions that will be posed this year. The critical questions are intended to provide guidance and expand your thinking. As you begin or expand activities focused on individuals with ASD, use the critical questions to assure you are using practices focused on equity and inclusivity that value the voices and perspectives of the autistic community. 

Whose perspectives are represented in this work? 

• Individuals with autism
• Family
• School staff
• Peers
• Community Provider
• Other

Consider a component of your work for a moment. Perhaps you are making decisions about hosting a family event at your school, forming a team to implement behavioral supports school-wide or for an individual student, or selecting curricular materials. Who is currently at the table? Is it primarily teaching staff or other educators? Is there family representation? Student representation? 

When we reflect on why those specific individuals are involved, we might discover that they were those who volunteered, those who were available at the time of the first meeting, or those who were selected to join by leadership. If we want to create a more inclusive environment, we need to first reflect on whose perspectives are currently represented in our work and begin to address any implicit biases that we may hold that may prevent us from genuinely inviting and welcoming diverse perspectives.

Additional sub-questions to consider:

• Why are these perspectives at the table?
• How are these perspectives sought out?
• How do we move beyond labels at the table?
• Is there diversity in thought and experience?
• What is the result or outcome of the perspectives that are represented?
• Who benefits from the perspectives currently at the table?

Listen to What it’s really like to have autism? Ethan Lisi and consider the following questions:

• How might I, through my words, actions, or nonactions, be perpetuating the thinking that autism is a disease or defect and something to be fixed?
• Ethan says, “I mask so well sometimes that people don’t even know I’m autistic.” What was my initial reaction to his statement? Is it possible that the masking of an autistic person makes me feel more comfortable?

Read Why Belonging Is Such A Big Issue In Business Today and discuss the following questions:

• In what ways does our district or school value “sameness?” 
• How do the three things that create a sense of belonging show up in our work? In our school? In our relationships with families?
• How might this quote impact our work with autistic students and their families? “...empowerment is by far the most powerful solution to ‘unbelonging.’ Once people feel they have power over their work, job, and environment, they then feel that they belong.”

Review and reflect on the Social Identity Wheel using the guided questions to prompt your thinking. It is strongly recommended that you also engage in a group discussion in order to hear diverse perspectives and create an environment where all participants feel seen and heard.

The Problem with Autistic Communication is Non-Autistic People 

This transcribed interview with Dr. Catherine Crompton from the University of Edinburgh describes her research team’s process and results related to communication and interaction outcomes when participants were presented a task across specifically matched groups.

Participants were grouped in three ways, autistic only, non-autistic only, and autistic and non-autistic combined. Dr. Crompton’s research aligns with a growing body of evidence supporting the Double Empathy Problem which suggests communication barriers occur between autistic and non-autistic people because both experience difficulty in interpreting one another’s verbal and nonverbal communication attempts. The theory challenges traditional deficit thinking, which places the responsibility for these barriers solely on autistic individuals, by focusing instead on the idea that there is simply a difference in communication styles between autistic and non-autistic people.

As a statewide project, we realize how important it is for our work, including our training materials, resources, website, and decision-making, to reflect multiple perspectives. As we reflect on this first critical question of “whose perspectives are represented in our work,” we have identified several initial steps toward expanding our own thinking by genuinely inviting and welcoming diverse perspectives.

• Engage in the Social Identity Wheel activity in order to consider the perspectives that we currently have at the table.
• Take the Implicit Association Test through the Project Implicit Research at Harvard University in order to identify potential implicit biases that may interfere with authentically seeking and welcoming diverse perspectives.
• Develop additional structures through which we can gain perspectives from a more diverse group of educators, such as Communities of Practice and focus groups.
• Routinely and authentically ask ourselves, “Whose perspective is reflected in this work,” as we create new tools, resources, and content.

Now that we have considered the perspectives currently reflected in the work, whose perspectives do we still need to ensure equity in this work? Next month we will reflect on the value in diverse perspectives and expand our thinking toward genuinely inviting and welcoming diverse perspectives. Join us next month as we consider the following Critical Question: 

Whose perspectives do we still need to ensure equity in this work?

• Individuals with autism
• Family
• School staff
• Peers
• Community Provider
• Other

• ►  Critical Question #1
• Critical Question #2
• Critical Question #3
• Critical Question #4
• Critical Question #5