“It’s Not a Physical Prison but You Can’t Get Out.” How Autistic Adults Make Sense of the Experience of Intimate Violence and Abuse

Background: Autistic people are more likely to experience intimate partner violence (IPV) than non-autistic peers, but our knowledge about how they recognize abuse and make sense of what has happened to them is sparse. The aim of this study was to explore how autistic people recognize and make meaning after experiencing IPV. Method: We recruited 21 autistic adults to take part in a semi-structured interview about the experience of IPV. We asked questions about how they had made sense of their experiences and how it had impacted them. We analyzed the data using reflexive thematic analysis. One author coded all data, engaging in reflexive discussion with the whole team. They organized codes into themes in collaboration with a second team member. Results: We developed three themes from the data, which focused on understanding and sense-making after intimate violence. Theme 1, “Power,” focused on the role that power dynamics had played in sense-making. Theme 2, “Disruptions of self,” explored the feeling of dehumanization, objectification, and stigmatization among participants that led to them feeling like they were worth less than others and that they had to mold themselves to fit perpetrator expectations. Theme 3, “‘Now, with hindsight,” focused on how survivors had struggled to recognize the violence, with a sense that it could “always be worse” and that they needed clearer understanding of what “red flags” look like in a relationship. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that making sense of the experience of intimate violence among autistic adults is shaped by individual, interpersonal, and societal factors, which normalize violence against autistic people, making it difficult to leave abusive relationships. By highlighting the factors that shape understanding, we can explore how to prevent these occurrences in future (e.g., better early education about neurodiversity and relationships).