Research at the Centre for Applied Autism Research (CAAR) has four streams:
- Strengths based autism research
- Understanding autistic processing and behaviour
- Health and wellbeing in autism
- Autism and navigating society
Participatory Research
CAAR carries out rigorous world-leading research for and with the autism community. We have established new methods of ‘participatory design’ processes, involving autistic people as active collaborators in research and the design of digital technology (including autistic people with intellectual disability).
We also work closely with a range of stakeholders who support autistic people, including health-related professionals in supporting efficient transition of autistic children and adults in and out of appropriate service provision, employers in adapting their procedures for recruiting and managing autistic staff, and education professionals in supporting learning – as an example, our inclusive universities project seeks to make universities as accessible as possible.
We also work closely with various police forces (in particular Avon and Somerset) in developing adaptations to the custody environment and equipping police officers with the training and knowledge they need to make adaptations to better support autistic people in their policing roles more broadly.