Interoception in Autism, Pitfalls, and Promise: A Participatory Research Perspective

Bodily autonomy is essential to Autistic well-being. Interoception supports bodily autonomy through guiding behavior in support of homeostasis. Promoting adaptive interoceptive skills is therefore crucial to improving Autistic well-being. To date, research on interoception in Autistic people has been poorly informed by the experiences and goals of Autistic people, has had a narrow focus on comparison with non-autistic norms in search of deficits, and has had limited impact on Autistic quality of life. In this perspective piece, a team of Autistic and non-autistic researchers review findings to date and make recommendations for future research directions. We argue that participatory research is needed to comprehensively map the varied interoceptive landscape of Autistic people, ensure that new interoceptive measures are autism-relevant, and guide interventions designed to improve the interoceptive and broader well-being of Autistic people. We believe that if interoception research is conducted in partnership with the autism community, the understanding of interoceptive processing and the full range of interpretive differences that result will be impactful and informative.