Autism Related Barriers to Healthcare Access

John Christopher Haddox*, Mark Ellison*, Amy Burt* and Sophia Spangler, Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506p>

Field (Broad Category): Architecture & Interior Design (Oral-Human Engagement) 

Student’s Major: Political Science 

The purpose of this study is to investigate barriers to healthcare access for persons Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD.) We gathered data from Autism Societies and varying support groups from all fifty states. From the list of contact information, West Virginia University expects to enroll approximately 1500 subjects to participate in this study. This study involves completion of a questionnaire and will take approximately 5 minutes for one to complete. One will be asked to fill out a survey regarding their healthcare experience as it relates to ASD. Barriers to healthcare access include the lighting of the room, the height of counter tops, and unintentional physical layout boundaries persons with ASD are affected by. Completing the survey also enables the opportunity for individuals to be contacted for future focus group participation and reflection. The hope is to identify barriers not previously talked about within interior design and help inform future educators, architects, carpenters, etc… on how to design healthcare spaces more efficiently. With these steps in place, people learn to appreciate qualitative approaches being just as valiable as quantitative figures to design spaces and increase productivity. 

Funding: NIFA: National Institute of Food and Agriculture 

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) & accompanying HONR 297-level course