We have been covering INSAR, the annual meeting of the International Society for Autism Research, for fifteen years. It is fascinating how the autism research landscape both has and has not evolved during that stretch.
AutINSAR is an online and in-person discussion about autistic priorities in autism research, and is an invaluable resource for autism researchers who want to help autistic people live their best lives.
To combat double empathy problem fallout for autistics, we need collaboration. Autistic people themselves need to be setting the agenda.
Autism research is a revolving door which Autistic people virtually never get to enter and allistics virtually never bother to exit.
AutINSAR is a much-needed discussion between autistic people, autism researchers, family members, and professionals about priorities in autism research. AutINSAR 2025 took place at the annual meeting of the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) in Seattle, Washington.
TC Waisman says, “When I show up in a room, I’m Black first. That’s what people see. They don’t see the invisible disabilities right away. This informs not only my worldview, but the kinds of things that I want to work on, and the ways I want to challenge the barriers I’m experiencing.”
We talked with researcher Dr. Meng-Chuan Lai about the overlap of mental health and autism, the evidence-backed tendency of autistic people to be LGBT+, and much more.
Maxfield Sparrow talks with researchers Emma Pritchard-Rowe and Jenny Gibson about why autistic types of play (solitary, stimmy, etc.) are not “wrong,” and in fact can have an important function in supporting relaxation and recuperation.
We spoke with autistic academics Richard Woods, Kathryn Williams, and C.A. Watts about their recently published letter explaining why “profound autism” bungles the support needs of autistic people with co-occurring conditions, and will endanger autistic lives.
Jenny Mai Phan is an Asian American autistic autism researcher, an Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) member, and the mother of four children, two of whom are autistic.
