“Bullies tend to be obvious”: autistic adults perceptions of friendship and the concept of ‘mate crime’.

Abstract

Mate crime is a specific subset of hate crime in which the perpetrator is known to the victim. The aim of the current study was to examine perceptions of friendship and the concept of mate crime in autistic adults. Five adults were interviewed about their experiences of social interactions, friendships and mate crime. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis revealed three superordinate themes: (1). Perceptions and ‘learning the formula’ (2). Socialising… ‘It’s more complicated than that’, and (3). ‘Taking Advantage of You’. Themes highlight the importance of further research into positive and negative aspects of social relationships in autistic adults, and the need to challenge attitudes around disability and provide support to those who may be socially vulnerable.

Keywords:

• Autism
• mate crime
• relationships
• friendships

Ackowledgements

We would like to thank everyone who gave their time to take part in this study and provide us with their valuable insights. We would also like to thank Dr Ros Crawley for her comments on a draft of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interests. This research was not funded.