Researchers from the School of Arts and the School of Engineering and Digital Arts (EDA) at the University of Kent are leading a new research project to investigate the experiences of autistic girls through drama, interactive media and participatory arts.<\/p>\n
The \u00a3806,475 research grant from the\u00a0Arts and Humanities Research Council<\/a>\u00a0(AHRC) for the project, entitled\u00a0Playing A\/Part: Investigating the experiences of autistic girls through drama, interactive media and participatory arts<\/em>,<\/strong>\u00a0will see the researchers working with a steering group of autistic women, several of whom are successful authors, performers and artists.\u00a0The project is in partnership with\u00a0Limpsfield Grange School in Surrey<\/a>and will run for 3 years.<\/p>\n The project aims to\u00a0properly document the particular experiences of autistic girls, who are under represented in research, using novel methods of creative practice and interdisciplinary evaluation pioneered by the research team.<\/p>\n These will includefilm, puppetry and performance and mixed methods of evaluation\u00a0to determine if such methods have a positive impact on the self-perception, mental well-being and self-esteem of the participating adolescent girls.<\/p>\n Professor Nicola Shaughnessy<\/a>\u00a0of the University\u2019s\u00a0School of Arts<\/a>\u00a0is the principal investigator in the project, which also involves her colleague\u00a0Dr Melissa Trimingham<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Dr Rocio von Jungenfeld<\/a>\u00a0from EDA, in a collaboration with psychologist Dr Emma Williams at the University of Surrey.<\/p>\n Professor Shaughnessy said: \u2018Whilst it is now recognised that autistic girls are under researched, there is very little information about their lived experiences, although there is increasing concern about their mental health with reports of increased risk of depression, self harm and eating disorders in this vulnerable group.\u00a0We are delighted to be working on a project that is interdisciplinary and participatory in order to understand more about the experiences of this community.\u2019<\/p>\n Sarah Wild, Headteacher at Limpsfield Grange, said: \u2018We\u2019re trying to get politicians to understand that this is a group who are massively under-diagnosed,\u00a0but also that there are not the right services out there for them or the awareness, including GPs who don\u2019t understand what female autism looks like.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"