Participatory Research

Hi my name is Dr. Liliane Savard. My favorite type of research is research that's done with research partners because then I know that it has a chance of having an impact. It's not just an idea that comes from my, um, brain as a researcher but it's really pursuing a question, um an issue that is important, um, to my community.

Hi my name is Nicole it is important to do research because you learn research skills and how to complete a research project including self-advocates is important because we know what is important to our community.

I think community partner research in autism is important um because it gives an opportunity to really have dialogue between um researchers who um often aren't people who've had the experience of um living with autism or even necessarily had a lot of experience with autistic people in person um, to have input and hear both our needs and what we're like as people and to see both our strengths and our challenges and um how to make research that's really effective um.

Also for us to bring our own ideas into that as community partners. Autistic people haven't been as much a part of the decision making and of how research has been done and thereby what's available to us in the community and um I really look forward to seeing the community partnerships that are possible to change that. So that's, I think, why we need community partnerships um and why I think it's a great thing for our community.