We urgently need to improve our understanding of eating behaviour in autistic people.

For her Master's and PhD, Charlie Greenall is working alongside autistic people to help us know more about autism and eating behaviours.

Autistic people make up a disproportionate number of people referred to eating disorder services but, when they access them, they experience poorer outcomes than non-autistic people. Many clinicians miss the signs of eating disorders in autistic people, as they can present differently.

At the same time, autism-related eating behaviours, such as eating a restricted range of foods, are poorly understood by clinicians. Sometimes they may be classified as eating disorders when they often serve a helpful function. For example, some autistic people have sensory issues around food and may prefer certain ways of eating or avoiding some types of food.

Charlie Greenall, a PhD student from Durham University, will work together with autistic people to:

• Understand more about eating behaviour in autistic people.
  
• Find better ways to identify disordered eating in autistic people from eating behaviours that are helpful to them.
• Find treatments for eating distress that improve outcomes for autistic people.
  

Autistic people with experience of eating disorders will collaborate on every stage of the project from methods through to outputs.

Working in partnership with autistic people is an essential part of this project. Community members can draw upon their personal experience to offer insight into the nuances of eating behaviours in autistic people, as well as their experiences with eating disorder services.

By learning more and being more accepting of how eating behaviour may present differently in autistic people, we can shape innovative and sustainable solutions to provide better care and support for them.

Findings from this study will be especially important for professionals in health and social care who are managing the care of autistic people around eating and diet. It will help them to distinguish disordered eating behaviour from atypical eating behaviour that may contribute positively to wellbeing.

We’re proud to partner on this project, which has the potential to help us know more about eating behaviours in autistic people.

Our role will include:

• Facilitating the creation of a lived experience involvement group from the Autistica Network.
• Offering guidance and best practice recommendations throughout the project. This includes research practices and safeguarding autistic people involved in the project.
• Our Head of Research will join the PhD supervisory team for this project. She’ll join quarterly meetings and offer supervisory guidance on the direction of the project.
• Amplifying the study's findings, such as through our newsletters and expert webinars.
• Shaping policy. Our policymaking team will help to ensure the latest research is presented to decision-makers, so the research informs real change.

[1] Mayes & Zickgraf (2019). Atypical eating behaviors in children and adolescents with autism, ADHD, other disorders, and typical development.

[2] Babb et al., (2021) ‘It’s not that they don’t want to access the support... it’s the impact of the autism’: The experience of eating disorder services from the perspective of autistic women, parents and healthcare professionals.