Autistic individuals face significant health disparities and barriers to accessing care, partly due to limited and inconsistent autism training among healthcare professionals. To address this, the authors propose the ‘SPACE’ framework, Sensory needs, Predictability, Acceptance, Communication, and Empathy, along with considerations for physical, processing, and emotional space, aiming to support equitable and autism-informed healthcare access.
Autistic individuals face significant health disparities and barriers to accessing care, partly due to limited and inconsistent autism training among healthcare professionals. To address this, the authors propose the ‘SPACE’ framework, Sensory needs, Predictability, Acceptance, Communication, and Empathy, along with considerations for physical, processing, and emotional space, aiming to support equitable and autism-informed healthcare access.