Toolkit Development

The AASPIRE Healthcare Toolkit was created as part of an on-going research project by the Academic Autistic Spectrum Partnership in Research and Education (AASPIRE) to help improve healthcare access and quality for adults on the autism spectrum. The project was funded by the National Institute Of Mental Health, Award Number R34MH092503. The content on this site is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute Of Mental Health, the National Institutes of Health, or other funding agencies.

The patient and supporter quotations used on this site were collected as a part of this research study.

Publications describing the development and testing of the Healthcare Toolkit

Nicoladis, C., Raymaker, D.M., McDonald, K., Kapp, S., Weiner, M., Ashkenazy, E., Gerrity, M., Kripke, C., Platt, L., Baggs, A. (2016). The development and evaluation of an online healthcare toolkit for autistic adults and their providers.e, Journal of General Internal Medicine. Published ahead of print June, 2016. DOI: 10.1007/s11606-016-3763-6
download toolkit main paper

AASPIRE research studies that informed the Healthcare Toolkit

Raymaker, D.M., McDonald, K.E., Ashkenazy, E., Gerrity, M., Baggs, A.M., Kripke, C., Hourston, S., & Nicolaidis, C. (2016). Barriers to healthcare: Instrument development and comparison between autistic adults and adults with and without other disabilities. Autism, 1-13.
access barriers paper online

Nicolaidis, C., Raymaker, D.M., McDonald, K., Baggs, A.E.V., Dern, S., Kapp, S., Weiner, M., Boisclair, W.C., Ashkenazy, E. (2015) "Respect the way I need to communicate with you": Healthcare experiences of adults on the autism spectrum. Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice. 19(7);824-831.
hc1BCinterviewAutism.pdf (~233Kb)

Nicolaidis, C., Raymaker, D., McDonald, K, Dern, S., Boisclair, W.C., Ashkenazy, E., Baggs, A. (2013). Comparison of healthcare experiences in autistic and non-autistic adults: A cross-sectional online survey facilitated by an academic-community partnership Journal of General Internal Medicine. 28(6);761-769.
hc1AsurveyJGIM.pdf (~220Kb)
Healthcare Survey Press Release HTML

AASPIRE papers about the clinical care of adults on the autism spectrum

Nicolaidis, C., Kripke, C.C., Raymaker, D.M. (2014) Primary Care for Adults on the Autism Spectrum Medical Clinics of North America. 98;1169-1191.
AASPIRE_PC_ASD_Med_Clinics_Accepted.pdf (~580Kb)

Nicolaidis, C. What Can Physicians Learn From the Neurodiversity Movement? Virtual Mentor: American Medical Association Journal of Ethics.2012. 14(6): 503-510.
neurodiversity_VM.pdf (~89KB)

Publications about AASPIRE's community based participatory research process and the Healthcare Toolkit

Raymaker, D.M. (2016). Intersections of critical systems thinking and community based participatory research. Systemic Practice and Action Research. Published ahead of print April, 2016. DOI: 10.1007/s11213-016-9376-5
access cst/cbpr paper online

Raymaker, D.M. (2016) Reflections of a community based participatory researcher from the intersection of disability advocacy, engineering, and the academy. Action Research. Published ahead of print March, 2016. DOI: 10.1177/1476750316636669
access reflection paper online

Nicolaidis, C., Raymaker, D.M. (2015). Community based participatory research with communities defined by race, ethnicity, and disability: Translating theory to practice. In Bradbury, Ed. The SAGE Handbook of Action Research (ch. 17).

Nicolaidis, C., Raymaker, D., McDonald, K, Dern, S., Ashkenazy, E., Boisclair, W.C., Robertson, S, Baggs, A. (2011). Collaboration strategies in non-traditional CBPR partnerships: Lessons from an academic-community partnership with autistic self-advocates. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action. 5(2);143-150.
AASPIRE_CBPR_PCHP.pdf(~1.2 MB)

More information about AASPIRE and its research projects can be found on the AASPIRE Home site.

Standards Compliance and Accessiblity

This Toolkit web site has been built to comply with current standards for HTML and CSS and for WCAG and Section 508. If some aspect of this site is not accessible to you, please contact us at info@aaspire.org and we will try to provide information in a way that will work for you.

Icon Attributions

The icons used on this site came from the Noun Project with thanks to John Caserta, Toke Frello, Jonathan Keating, Connie Shu, James Fenton, and the designers who chose to place their icons into public domain, and from the Iconic icon set with thanks to P.J. Onori.

What do the words "toolkit" and "tool" mean on this site?

A "toolkit" is just a bunch of resources. The Autism Healthcare Accommodations Tool is a computer program that will create a customized accommodations report. It is a "tool" because it is something that can be used.