COVID-19 social distancing: A snippet view of the autistic social world

Abstract

In this Current Issues article, I will use National Health Service guidelines on hand hygiene and social distancing measures (which the UK government introduced in March, 2020, to combat the COVID-19 coronavirus) to give readers an insight into the restricted social life of an autistic person, using auto/biography to explore my personal experience of social isolation and being a 'vulnerable adult'. I am an Autistic, newly qualified sociologist and I will be using my positionality as a vantage point, as the public adjust to my 'normal'. I acknowledge the element of 'choice' in autistic individuals' self-isolation but focus here on the social restrictions imposed on us from outside (social isolation). I call for social change, once the social distancing measures are lifted. These changes might occur at the individual level (e.g. being a friend) but will still broaden our social world.

Keywords:

• Autism
• COVID-19
• coronavirus
• Asperger’s
• social distancing
• self-isolation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).