Introduction

Autistic adults face a range of unique barriers to accessing their communities via cars and/or public transport. Previous studies report that learning to drive can be difficult, and that using public transport can be filled with anxiety for autistic adults. Indeed, car and public transport access and use are associated with greater quality of life. This study sought to explore these factors for autistic adults, compared to non-autistic adults, using a large national sample.

Methods

Data are from wave one of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Autism in Adulthood. Descriptive statistics and inferential analyses were used to describe and explore associations between community mobility, quality of life, employment status and educational attainment. Regression models were used to determine if community mobility use and access were predictors of quality of life, employment and education.

Results

Autistic adults self-reported less accessibility to both public transport and driving to meet their community mobility needs and were less likely to use a car or public transport. Further, autistic adults reported significantly lower self-rated quality of life, were less likely to be employed and were less likely to have completed further education. Notably, although public transport or car access are not predictors of employment and educational outcomes, such access improves quality of life, but in different ways when compared to non-autistic adults. By contrast, public transport use is a predictor of better educational outcomes, and public transport and car use are predictors of both.

Conclusions

More nuanced attention to autistic people's individual perspectives and their experiences will help better develop ways to more intuitively define and measure both access and use in a meaningful manner. Qualitative studies are needed to explore why access does not always equate to use. The needs of autistic people should be considered by a range of policies impacting community environments, such as urban and public transport design, training of police and transit authorities and emergency response.

中文翻译：

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探索社区流动与自闭症成人的生活质量、就业和完成继续教育之间的关系

介绍

自闭症成年人在通过汽车和/或公共交通工具进入社区时面临着一系列独特的障碍。之前的研究报告称，学习开车可能很困难，对于自闭症成年人来说，使用公共交通工具可能会充满焦虑。事实上，汽车和公共交通的接入和使用与更高的生活质量有关。与非自闭症成年人相比，本研究试图使用大型全国样本来探索自闭症成年人的这些因素。

方法

数据来自澳大利亚成人自闭症纵向研究的第一波。描述性统计和推论分析被用来描述和探索社区流动性、生活质量、就业状况和教育程度之间的关联。回归模型用于确定社区流动性的使用和访问是否是生活、就业和教育质量的预测因素。

结果

自闭症成年人自我报告称，他们不太可能使用公共交通工具和开车来满足他们的社区移动需求，并且不太可能使用汽车或公共交通工具。此外，自闭症成年人报告的自评生活质量显着降低，就业的可能性较小，完成进一步教育的可能性较小。值得注意的是，虽然公共交通或汽车的使用并不是就业和教育成果的预测因素，但与非自闭症成年人相比，这种使用方式提高了生活质量，但以不同的方式。相比之下，公共交通的使用是更好的教育成果的预测指标，而公共交通和汽车的使用则是两者的预测指标。

结论

更细致地关注自闭症患者的个人观点和他们的经历将有助于更好地开发方法，以更直观的方式定义和衡量以有意义的方式访问和使用。需要进行定性研究来探索为什么获取并不总是等同于使用。一系列影响社区环境的政策应考虑自闭症患者的需求，例如城市和公共交通设计、警察和交通当局的培训以及应急响应。