I choose to do my infographic on Autism because my future goal is to work with individuals with ASD and so I feel passionate in the area of educating, spreading awareness, and promoting acceptance of these individuals into the community. My infographic is aimed at multiple audiences e.g. young, old, male, female, autistic, or not autistic, to be used in different designs e.g. as leaflets, posters, and handouts, and to be used in different environments; schools, pharmacies, workplaces, offices, shops, and training events. I wanted my infographic to look fun, inviting, playful and informal while covering quite an overview of autism and what that entails while also correcting any stigma and turning awareness of ASD into acceptance.

What is Autism? And What does Autism look like? Sections

I got all information in this section from the DSM-5, which is used as a diagnostic tool by professionals, listing criteria to diagnose mental disorders. In the what is Autism section, there is a definition of Autism and the 2 areas of deficit experienced.  The what does Autism look like section recorrects common stigmas associated with Autism, in an informal way. 

Did you know!?! Section 

This section was underpinned by 4 research papers; Spain et al., 2020, Sasson et al., 2017, Kuzminski et al., 2019 and Forrest et al., 2020 all focusing on a different difficultly, individuals with Autism can face.

Spain et al., 2020's paper was focused on Individuals with Autism suffering from social anxiety and investigating the impacts and consequences of symptoms as well as the coping strategies used. It was a qualitative designed study, using semi-structured interviews and analyzed through thematic analysis. I used the background information presented in this paper for my infographic such as 'More than 40% of adults with ASD have one or more mental health conditions.'

Sasson et al., 2017 paper found that first impressions of individuals with ASD  by typically developing peers are far less favorable compared to typically developing peers, and are linked with reduced intentions to pursue social interaction. These first impressions occur within seconds and do not change with increased exposure and are present in both child and adult age groups. I used this paper to state that individuals with Autism are rated less favorably than typically developing peers in my infographic, I feel that the audience would be shocked to see this fact.

Kuzminski et al., 2019 paper linked that people's attitudes on Autism were influenced by knowledge, the more knowledge, and experience of someone with Autism, the more likely they were to have a positive attitude about  Autism. This relationship was the whole idea of my infographic, to expand the public knowledge and correct stigmas to hopefully change their attitudes towards individuals with Autism. This paper also found a gap in public knowledge relating to the question 'What could it be like to have Autism?' therefore I added this question at the end of my infographic to open up people's minds to think and empathize with this question.

Forrest et al., 2020 study looks into the reasons why individuals with ASD experience more frequent bullying victimization compared to typically developing peers. I used the background information in this paper to state facts such as '50% of children with disabilities have experienced bullying victimization.'

What can I do? Section

I found this information on the NHS website, giving simple tips on how to help communication in day-to-day life. 

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).

Forrest, D. L., Kroeger, R. A., & Stroope, S. (2020). Autism spectrum disorder symptoms and bullying victimization among children with autism in the United States. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 50(2), 560-571.

Kuzminski, R., Netto, J., Wilson, J., Falkmer, T., Chamberlain, A., & Falkmer, M. (2019). Linking knowledge and attitudes: Determining neurotypical knowledge about and attitudes towards autism. Plos One, 14(7), e0220197.

Nation Health Service. (2020) Autism and everyday life. How to help your autistic child with day to day life - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Sasson, N. J., Faso, D. J., Nugent, J., Lovell, S., Kennedy, D. P., & Grossman, R. B. (2017). Neurotypical peers are less willing to interact with those with autism based on thin slice judgments. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 1-10.

Spain, D., Zıvralı Yarar, E., & Happé, F. (2020). Social anxiety in adults with autism: a qualitative study. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being; Int J Qual Stud Health Well-Being, 15(1), 1803669. 10.1080/17482631.2020.1803669