news
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CRAE Annual Report 2018-2019
We are delighted to announce the publication of the latest CRAE Annual Report (Oct 2018 – Sep 2019). Read the CRAE Annual Report to learn more about us, our research and engagement activities by clicking here. For previous issues, please see below: CRAE Annual Report (2017-2018)CRAE Annual Report (2013-2014)
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COVID-19 resources for autistic people
We know that on the internet there is currently lot of information on dealing with COVID-19 (coronavirus), which can be overwhelming. Hence we compiled a list of resources for autistic children and young people and their families, and a list of resources for autistic adults. Please note that we do not specifically endorse any of…
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Talking about Autism
Research summary: Talking about Autism – Autistic Parents’ Views and Experiences of Talking about Autism with their Autistic Children Thank you for taking part in our research last year. This research summary tells you what we did and what we found. What was this research about?In 2019, researchers at CRAE published a survey about how…
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Participants wanted! Meditation study
We are looking to find out more about the effects of a daily meditation programme in autistic people. Here is some important information about the programme and study: The programme will be delivered through an application on your smartphone, and will take 10 minutes of your time, every day for 2 weeks. The meditation will consist of breathing exercises,…
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It’s All Academic Festival 2019
Ever wondered about your ability to focus or block out distracting information? Ever thought that mindfulness may influence? On the 5th October 2019, CRAE put these questions to the test! The CRAE team set up an interactive stall “Can it read my mind?” at UCL’s It’s All Academic Festival to show the public how an…
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VOTE FOR US!
UCL recently launched the #MadeAtUCL campaign to highlight innovative research being conducted at the university that has made a significant impact on society. CRAE Director Anna Remington’s research on improving employment prospects for autistic adults has been featured by the campaign under the category of “Justice and Equality”. There is a well-established employment gap in…
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Perceived credibility of autistic witnesses
CRAE’s Laura Crane and colleagues investigated perceptions of autistic people within the criminal justice system. By showing videos of autistic mock witnesses to a group of mock jurors (simulating a real courtroom setting), they found that the testimonies of autistic witness were judged to be as credible as those of non-autistic witnesses. Importantly, this was…
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CRAE at the 12th Autism Europe Congress
Several CRAE team members headed to the Autism Europe Congress in Nice, France in September 2019! This year’s conference theme was “A new dynamic for change and inclusion”. It aimed to share research and experiences towards an inclusive society for autistic people. CRAE members shared their own research findings through a variety of talks and…
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Participants wanted! Perceptual capacity in autism
CRAE’s PhD student Jana Brinkert is asking autistic people, aged 18-40 years, to take part in her study on attention and perceptual capacity (the information that we can process at any given time). The study involves recordings of your brain activation (EEG) while you complete two computer tasks. We are inviting anyone who is between…
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Participants wanted! Mental health outcomes for autistic people
Little is known about how best to prevent or treat poor mental health in autistic people. Research provides important information about how well treatments work, yet it does not consider how important different outcomes are for autistic people. For example, is relief from depression more important or less important than serious treatment-related complications? To address…
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Podcast: Double Empathy – Part 1
CRAE’s Brett Heasman published a podcast series about double-empathy and bridging the gap between autistic and non-autistic people. Brett talks with Kerrianne Morrison, Noah Sasson, Sue Fletcher-Watson, Catherine Crompton and Damian Milton about research in this area. The podcasts are animated to make them more accessible and engaging for listeners! Check out the first episode…
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Learning how to read autistic behaviour from interactions between autistic people
In 2018, Jaswal and Akhtar wrote a paper that questioned the assumption that autistic people are socially uninterested. They provided a compelling argument, explaining that this apparent lack of social motivation in autism was not consistent with how autistic people describe themselves, and did not recognise the many other reasons why autistic people may behave…
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Adapting interview experiences for autistic people
CRAE’s Anna Remington,Laura Crane and Brett Heasman have been working on a project with the Centre for Applied Autism Research (CAAR) at the University of Bath, looking at adapting interview experiences for autistic people. People with autism are often disadvantaged in employment, healthcare and police interviews because impairments in social and cognitive processes (such as…
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RECAP: How I Communicate Conference
In July 2019, CRAE’s Brett Heasman presented at the “How I Communicate” conference in London. Organized by Dr Rebecca Wood (SGDP, King’s College London), this conference explored the diverse ways in which autistic people communicate. Presentations were done in various formats e.g. artwork, musical compositions, theatre and comedy in the interest of inclusivity. A particular…
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DE-ENIGMA Newsletter
In the December 2018 – July 2019 edition of the DE-ENIGMA newsletter, the DE-ENIGMA team at CRAE discussed completion of our final two studies working with children on the autism spectrum – adding up to seven London studies since the start of the project! It highlighted findings from their April and July 2018 studies that…
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Educational needs of children with neurodevelopmental disorders
CRAE’s Maria Ashworth has published a new paper with Jo Van Herwegen and Olympia Palikara on the views of professionals working with children with Williams Syndrome, Down Syndrome or autism. Their study examined professionals’ knowledge of either Williams Syndrome, Down Syndrome or autism and their views about the type of support children should receive. Although…
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Discover Conference Recap: Autism and Employment
On June 27th 2019, we visited Autistica’s Discover Conference at the University of Reading. Here are some of the insights we gained when attending the Breakfast Workshop ‘Autism and Employment’ with Amy Walker (Founder of Neurodiversity Works, Diversity & Inclusion Coordinator at GroupM), Brett Heasman (CRAE) and Andrew Harding (Fujitsu). Amy started the breakfast session by sharing her personal autism and…
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Neurotypical people over-estimate how helpful they are towards autistic people
CRAE’s Brett Heasman has just published a study on how autistic people are perceived by neurotypical people. Brett’s research used a computer game where 255 neurotypical players either believed they were playing with an autistic or non-autistic player. This player was actually an artificial confederate that was programmed to behave the same way across all…
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PARTICIPANTS WANTED! Autistic adults’ experiences of camouflaging
Julia Cook, a PhD student at UCL, is seeking autistic adults of all genders who use camouflaging, masking, or compensatory strategies during social situations to take part in some new research. Taking part involves: • Completing online questionnaires • You may then be invited to UCL where you would complete a short social interaction, reading…
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PARTICIPANTS WANTED! Are you LGBT+ and autistic?
Are you LGBT+ and autistic? Are you interested in taking part in research at CRAE? We are looking for individuals for an interview study about your experiences and views on autism, sexuality and support services. We are inviting anyone who identifies as LGBT+ and autistic, is over the age of 18 years old, lives in…
