Box 4.

Infrastructure – how to support and encourage autistic academics and activists (participatoryautismresearch.wordpress.com/).

The Participatory Autism Research Collective (PARC) was set up to bring autistic people, including scholars and activists, together with researchers and practitioners who work with autistic people. Their aim is to build a community network, where those who wish to see more significant involvement of autistic people in autism research can share knowledge and expertise.
Strengths of this approach	Limitations of this approach
● While it is autistic-led, the group is inclusive of autistic and non-autistic academics ● The group specifically aims to support early career researchers and practitioners	● Autistic-led groups like PARC, operating independently of a host institution, may struggle to secure funding ● The membership is widely distributed across the United Kingdom, making collaboration and collective action difficult at times