Adjusting the volume : the paradoxical experience of secure care for autistic young people

This paper explores the impact of secure care on the identity narratives of autistic young people. The research made use of a flexible diary method and semistructured interviews, analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). It sought reflections on the experiences of autistic young people who were living, or had recently lived, in Scotland’s secure accommodation services. By listening directly to young people, this research offers a unique contribution to knowledge about life for a group often described as ‘hard to reach’. It considers the intersection of autism and secure care through the lenses of relationships, residence, and rules. Due to the ambivalence, incongruence, and dissonance experienced by young people, it proposes that there is the potential for secure care to create barriers or supports, in relation to communication and attachment (through relationships); sensory differences (through the residence); and need for structure and routine (through the rules). In considering what is already known about autism in restricted settings, a number of recommendations are made for future practice, including in relation to congruent communication, ambivalent experiences, belonging, hyper-empathy, symbolism, masking, environmental adaptations, sensory connectivity, dichotomous thinking, information sharing, the autistic experience, and individuality of risk management.