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Lookup NU author(s): Emerita Professor Jacqueline Rodgers
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
© The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).Background: Suicide is a leading cause of death for autistic people worldwide, but there is remarkably little research addressing suicide prevention strategies in this group, and virtually none that asks autistic people what they need and want. Methods: Overall, 3962 autistic people and 627 people who supported or were bereaved by the suicide of an autistic person (>95% UK-based) participated in our online surveys. We garnered their ideas for policies and interventions to prevent suicide in autistic people (Phase 1). We thematically analyzed 2373 suggestions, distilling these into 63 ideas which an independent sample prioritized (Phase 2). We identified shared and differential priorities between participants. Results: Across two samples of autistic and non-autistic people, differences were overshadowed by consensus on necessary pathways to suicide prevention. Paramount among these were the upskilling and resourcing of healthcare services to deliver timely, autism-specific support, and the improvement of diagnostic services, ensuring autistic people not diagnosed in childhood are assessed accurately, quickly, and with sensitive post-diagnostic care. Other priorities, across phases, emphasized a social, societal response to suicide in autistic people, one where reducing stigma and providing social support were favored over crisis apps, and where support should be embedded across the life course in relation to education, employment, and social care in the community. Conclusion: While UK-centric, the findings corroborate international calls for autism-specific support for people in crisis, delivered by those with specialist knowledge. These results also highlight the relationship between suicide prevention and timely autism diagnosis, and the essential need for post-diagnostic care. Mirroring shifts in national and international suicide prevention policy, participant priorities extend the focal point of suicide prevention beyond individuals in crisis, emphasizing the need for coordinated, multisector efforts to address systemic societal determinants of suicide: a strategic and expansive perspective thus far lacking in an autism context.
Author(s): Moseley RL, Procyshyn T, Chikaura T, Marsden SJ, Parsons TA, Cassidy S, Allison CT, Pelton M, Weir E, Crichton D, Mosse D, Rodgers J, Hall I, Owens L, Cheyette J, Hodges H, Hedley D, Baron-Cohen S
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Autism in Adulthood
Year: 2026
Pages: Epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 11/02/2026
Acceptance date: 02/04/2018
Date deposited: 25/08/2026
ISSN (print): 2573-9581
ISSN (electronic): 2573-959X
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd.
URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/25739581261415764
DOI: 10.1177/25739581261415764
Data Access Statement: The authors did not seek consent from participants to make our data publicly available. However, the authors wel come reasonable requests for access.
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