Exploring Ghanaian and Nigerian autistic adults' experiences of accessing and utilising services in the UK

这项研究旨在探讨来自撒哈拉以南非洲的自闭症成年人在英国（UK）接受自闭症服务的经验。它将专注于尼日利亚和加纳的自闭症成年人，因为他们来自英国最大和最定居的两个非洲社区。因此，要参加，个人将被要求至少16岁，并定义自己为自闭症，加纳，或尼日利亚出生或血统，并生活在英国。利用解释性顺序混合方法的方法，该项目将从参与者的观点，他们的看法，以及访问和使用自闭症服务的经验进行探索。在英国，对黑人和少数民族（BME）社区的自闭症研究有限，特别是关注成年人。这对撒哈拉以南非洲的人来说更糟。他们是英国第二大非欧洲移民群体。然而，人们普遍认识到，只有通过积极参与和纳入不同自闭症个体的观点和看法，自闭症研究才有意义并具有实际应用。与此同时，种族、族裔和残疾的交叉如何有助于服务用户的服务体验和成果仍然知之甚少。显然，有必要在文化和种族或民族背景下研究自闭症经历，以发展特定自闭症社区（如尼日利亚和加纳）的“内部人视角”的证据。因此，该项目将有助于更好地了解自闭症社区各部分的经验，这些部分在服务/干预措施的研究和规划中往往代表性不足。解释现象学分析（IPA）采用交叉性的透镜将用于本项目。这是因为IPA在从个人的角度探索个人的生活经历方面特别有用，特别是在以前研究有限的领域。它承认每个参与者都是自己经验的专家，并允许他们代表自己。交叉性的概念将是一个有用的手段，了解尼日利亚和加纳自闭症成年人在英国访问和利用自闭症服务的具体经验。这是因为作为一种分析工具的交叉性表明，个人各种社会身份的重叠导致了特定的优势或劣势体验。因此，由于文化和/或种族/民族，这些参与者可能与其他自闭症成年人有不同的经历。交叉性可以帮助理解这些差异，并突出参与者的具体需求。

This research aims to explore autistic adults from sub-Saharan Africa's experiences with autism services in the United Kingdom (UK). It will focus on Nigerian and Ghanaian autistic adults as they are from two of the largest and most settled African communities in the UK. Therefore, to participate, individuals will be required to be at least 16 years of age and define themselves as being autistic, Ghanaian, or Nigerian by birth or descent and living in the UK. Utilising an explanatory sequential mixed method approach, the project will explore from the participants' viewpoint, their perceptions, and experiences of accessing and utilising autism services. There is limited autism research with Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities in the UK, particularly focussing on adults. This is even worse for people from sub-Saharan Africa. This is even though they are the second largest non-European immigrant group in the UK. Yet there is a general recognition that, only through the active participation and inclusion of viewpoints and perceptions from diverse autistic individuals can autism research be meaningful and have practical applications. At the same time, how the intersection of race, ethnicity and disability contributes to service experiences and outcomes for service users remains little understood. There is clearly a need for research into autistic experiences in the context of culture and race or ethnicity to develop evidence of an "insider's perspective" of specific autistic communities such as those from Nigeria and Ghana. This project will therefore contribute to a better understanding of the experiences of sections of the autism community that are often under-represented in research and planning of services/interventions. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) employing the lens of intersectionality will be used for this project. This is because IPA is particularly useful in exploring individuals' lived experiences from their perspective, especially in areas with limited previous research. It recognises each participant as an expert of their own experiences and allows them to represent themselves. The concept of intersectionality will be a useful means of understanding the specific experiences of accessing and utilising autism services of Nigerian and Ghanaian autistic adults in the UK. This is because intersectionality as an analytical tool states that the overlap of various social identities in an individual results in specific experiences of advantage or disadvantage. Therefore, these participants may have different experiences to other autistic adults due to culture and/or race/ethnicity. Intersectionality can help understand these differences as well as highlight participants' specific needs.