Playing A/Part: investigating the experiences of autistic girls through drama, interactive media and participatory arts.

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Playing A/Part is an interdisciplinary collaboration (drama, media arts, psychology) working with autistic girls (aged 11-18) and women to investigate the female face of autism through innovative, creative and participatory approaches pioneered by members of the research team. Improvisatory performance and interactive media are used as creative tools for articulating the lived experience of the female autistic community. The project responds to calls for more research and novel methods to document the distinctive experiences and characteristics of this under-represented group. As Sarah Wild states, headteacher at Limpsfield Grange (the only UK specialist school for autistic girls and a project partner):'We're trying to get politicians to understand that this is a group who are massively under-diagnosed, but also that there are not the right services out there for them or the awareness, including GPs who don't understand what female autism looks like.'Autistic women describe experiences of invisibility, masking their identities and "faking it" to be socially compliant. This results in high levels of anxiety, which impact on mental well-being, self-confidence and self-worth, leading to increased rates of depression, self-harm and eating disorders. There is, therefore, a need to support self-development and well-being in autistic females, especially during adolescence; a crucial time for identity formation during which autistic difficulties and differences can become more pronounced in the face of increasing socio-emotional pressures. Through its interdisciplinary and participatory approach, the project will produce new knowledge about the female autistic experience that will be of value to the autism community, the creative industries, education, health and social care. This has the potential to inform the development of more female-sensitive diagnostic measures and services, highlighting the creative contribution of this community and challenging existing stereotypes. The project aims to fully engage the female autistic community in the research about them and to transform public understanding and awareness. To achieve this we will: 1. Co-create a programme of participatory arts workshops and creative toolkit, enabling autistic female adolescents to articulate their lived experiences and identities; 2. Conduct a specially designed survey amongst a) autistic women and b) autism experts to achieve consensus on commonly shared features of female autism.3. Deliver and trial a programme of participatory arts workshops in different educational settings; 4. Evaluate the efficacy of participatory arts workshops to enhance self-perception, mental well-being and self-esteem using new and established measures; 5. Co-produce and test the feasibility of a participatory arts peer mentoring model in educational and community settings, involving autistic girls and women in collaborative and creative activities; 6. Engage the female autistic community in participatory research and dissemination; 7. Create an international interdisciplinary participatory research network 8.Disseminate research findings to stakeholders and the wider public through a programme of impact and public engagement. The project builds on the team's previous work exploring autistic identities, perception and creativity, and on methods successfully trialled in a pilot programme of participatory arts workshops using drama and interactive media to explore how female autistic students perceived and engaged with their environments and each other. A public engagement programme includes symposia, roundtables, films, educational resources, a media installation, performances and interactive website. Through this collaboration across disciplinary boundaries, using established and novel methods, we will produce outcomes that are more than the sum of their parts, transforming the face of autism research through female autistic voices.