A 10-page comic book published by a project co-led by Fellow Professor Jenny Gibson provides recommendations on how comic events might be more welcoming for autistic fans.
Comics are especially appealing to autistic readers but comic festivals and conventions can be overwhelming sensory environments for autistic fans.
The year long project – ‘The Collaboration for Comics and Autism’ - consulted with autistic fans, comics professionals and academics about how to make comic events more inclusive and accessible. The initial online survey generated a huge response.
Jenny Gibson, Professor of Neurodiversity and Developmental Psychology, said:
“Normally we would expect a few dozen responses, but we had hundreds of people feeding into our research. That tells you how many autistic fans there are out there and how much appetite there is for change.”
The survey feedback was explored at two workshops and identified around 40 potential ways to make comic festivals more autism friendly.
The general principles recommended include supplying clear information such as event descriptions and accessible maps, as well as providing quiet spaces and access to noise-cancelling headphones.
Specialist publisher Dekko Comics produced the comic book called 'The Inclusive Issue' with a story that follows a group of four autistic people as they navigate a fan convention and solve some of the issues together.
The project's co-lead was Dr Joe Sutliff Sanders and other partners included the Comics Cultural Impact Collective, the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration and Lakes International Comics Arts Festival.
Read 'The Inclusive Issue'.