The Development and Pilot-Testing of the Autism Attitude Acceptance Scale: An Instrument Measuring Autism Acceptance

Abstract

Background: Although previous studies have measured attitudes about autism to understand ways to ameliorate stigmatized beliefs, nonautistic individuals' acceptance of autism is still not well understood. This study aimed to develop and pilot test the Autism Attitude Acceptance Scale (AAAS), a self-report instrument that measures nonautistic adults' autism acceptance based on the neurodiversity framework, and examine the associations between autism acceptance and purported variables (disability-related experience/awareness variables and demographic characteristics). Methods: The author piloted the AAAS with 122 nonautistic adults. Principal component analysis and reliability analysis were used to examine the factor structure and psychometric properties of the AAAS. The associations between the AAAS and autism knowledge, the quantity and quality of previous contact, neurodiversity awareness, and demographic variables were examined using Pearson's r correlations, t-tests, and analyses of variance. Results: The author constructed two subscales of the AAAS, General Acceptance (GA) and Attitudes toward Treating Autistic Behaviors (ATAB). The GA measures the acceptance of autism as a unique way of being, willingness to provide support to autistic individuals, and feeling comfortable while interacting with them. The ATAB measures how strongly a person believes that receiving treatments to reduce autistic symptoms will or will not benefit autistic individuals. The GA was associated with autism knowledge, quality and quantity of previous contact with autistic individuals, neurodiversity awareness, gender, ethnicity, and education level of participants. The ATAB was significantly associated with autism knowledge and quality and quantity of previous contact; the ATAB did not have any significant associations with neurodiversity awareness and demographic variables. Conclusions: The AAAS, which validly and reliably measures nonautistic individuals' autism acceptance, identified the subgroups with low autism acceptance. This study calls for further examination of the underlying mechanism of autism acceptance and neurodiversity framework to restructure nonautistic individuals' attitudes about autism.

Stigma and knowledge about autism in Brazil: A psychometric and intervention study

“…These results corroborate the literature by showing that autism knowledge influences stigma (e.g. Gillespie-Lynch et al, 2015; Kim, 2020). Thus, findings suggest that participating in an online training may have improved participants’ negative views of autism, reducing stigma and increasing participants’ openness to building intimate and lasting relationships with autistic people.…”

Understanding Stigma in Autism: A Narrative Review and Theoretical Model

“…[113][114][115][116] There is prevalent autism stigma within Black American communities from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, particularly related to denial and shame, 117,118 as well lower levels of autism acceptance in Asian American communities. 119 Aboriginal and Torres…”

“…15 From a different perspective, the autism stigma experienced by families may be greater if their child's autism is less visible compared to children with more obvious additional needs, such as intellectual disability. 15 In terms of individual differences among the public, there is converging evidence that females are less likely to have stigmatised views about autism, 13,48,119 have higher levels of acceptance of autistic people, 119 more positive attitudes, 48 and greater willingness for social closeness with autistic people. 13,50 Higher educational levels are also associated with higher levels of acceptance 119 and lower levels of stigmatised views.…”

“…15 In terms of individual differences among the public, there is converging evidence that females are less likely to have stigmatised views about autism, 13,48,119 have higher levels of acceptance of autistic people, 119 more positive attitudes, 48 and greater willingness for social closeness with autistic people. 13,50 Higher educational levels are also associated with higher levels of acceptance 119 and lower levels of stigmatised views. 127 However, education level is not a predictor in all studies.…”

“…29,48 Age is generally not predictive of autism-related attitudes and stigma. 29,48,119,127 Other relevant individual differences predictive of lower autism stigma include openness to experience, and decreased acceptance of inequality. 106 The impact of stigma…”