An Exploratory Study of Attitudes toward Autism Amongst Church-Going Christians in the South East of England, United Kingdom

Abstract

Access to church communities can be difficult for autistic people. Whilst specific autism guidelines are available for churches to follow, their dissemination among church communities, as well as churchgoers’ attitudes towards autism is unknown. Semi-structured interviews were used with twenty-one adult church-goers from four Protestant churches in England, UK. Using a grounded theory approach to analyze the data, three themes were identified: “different understandings of autism”, “degrees of ableism” and “idiosyncratic practice.” We found positive and pejorative attitudes; this mix of perspectives reflecting the idiosyncratic practice among churches. Recommendations for further research and church practice are provided.

Keywords:

• autism
• inclusion
• social inclusion
• spirituality

Acknowledgements

The first author would like to thank colleagues Tony Osgood, Nathan Keates and the reviewers for their thoughts on drafts of the manuscript.

Declaration of interest statement

This research was unfunded.