A good autistic life: An autistic-led conceptualization of autistic flourishing through autistic women's-lived experiences

Åsa Hedlund^1*Maria Eriksson Wester²Pia Edenvik³Cecilia Ingard⁴Kajsa Isaksson⁵Lisa Kron Sabel³Danielle Uneus⁶Therese Lindström^7,8Melissa H Black^7,9Hanna Bertilsdotter Rosqvist¹⁰

• ¹Department of Caring Sciences, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, University of Gävle, Gävle, Sweden
• ²Independent researcher, Falun, Sweden
• ³Independent researcher, Stockholm, Sweden
• ⁴Department of Social Work, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, University of Gävle, Gävle, Sweden
• ⁵Stockholm University of the Arts, Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
• ⁶5. Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences; Faculty of Arts, Department of Game Design, Uppsala University, Campus Gotland, Visby, Sweden
• ⁷6. Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND), Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Centre for Psychiatry Research, Karolinska Institutet (KI), Solna, Stockholm, Sweden
• ⁸Region Stockholm, Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
• ⁹Curtin School of Allied Health, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
• ¹⁰Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Department of Social and Psychological Studies, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Värmland, Sweden

Abstract Introduction and objective: Interest in developing an understanding of "autistic flourishing" is steadily increasing in research and autistic communities. Flourishing is a multidimensional construct explained somewhat by positive emotion, but mostly by good psychological and social functioning. Autistic people process information and stimuli differently fromthan non-autisticneurotypical people, so it may be reasonable to assume that their definition of flourishing and the factors that influence it may differ from those of non-autisticneurotypical people. Exploring flourishing from autistic women's perspectives is essential, as they have been historically overlooked in autism research, despite differing from autistic men in presentation and facing higher mental health risks.Exploring flourishing from an autistic women's perspective may be especially important, given that their experiences and influencing factors may differ from, and be harder tobe more difficult to identify than those of in males within current societal norms. Methods: This autistic-led, partly collective, autoethnographic study was conducted within the context of a broader project exploring the concept of autistic flourishing. Here, we employ a two-phased phenomenological approach, drawing on both autistic and neurotypical frames of analyses. In the first phase, autistic womenfemale authors draw on their lived experiences in a collective autoethnography, including both focus groups and collective writing, to shape the concept of flourishing and its indicators. These insights were, which is further developed by neurotypical authors, who compareing to neurotypical experiences and conceptualizations of flourishing. Results: Two themes and twelve subthemes were identified. The first theme, "Living with a neurodivergent bodymind," presents how autistic women define and experience flourishing. The second theme, "Strategies for autistic flourishing," highlights actions autistic women take to achieve or maintain flourishing. Discussion and conclusion: Through our autistic-led approach drawing on neurodiverse frames of analysis, our work presents a first initial investigation of autistic flourishing among women. Our findings suggest qualitative differences in autistic derived definitions of flourishing and its indicators compared to those of neurotypicals, emphasizing the importance of developing an autistic-driven understanding of flourishing. Keywords: Autism, Autistic-led research, Autoethnography, Neurodiverse, Women