4: New Perspectives about the COVID-19 Pandemic for Autistics

In the previous chapter it was revealed that there is a scant amount of literature about the views and experiences of autistics regarding vaccine hesitancy, the COVID-19 pandemic and COVID-19 disease. To address these gaps, an online survey was developed and distributed on two separate occasions to autistics and their families. During its first distribution, it was open for five weeks, from 13 July 2021 to 20 August 2021, and was completed by 32 respondents. During its second distribution it was open for six weeks, from 6 March 2022 to 17 April 2022, and was completed by 34 respondents. In this chapter, a description of the data collected from these two surveys is presented. This is followed by an overview of the benefits and drawbacks associated with using an online survey and the state of the literature about autism and the COVID-19 pandemic after data were collected from the second survey. This chapter then concludes with some final comments about autism and the COVID-19 pandemic.