{"id":1773,"date":"2022-04-13T08:57:02","date_gmt":"2022-04-13T07:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/beamlab\/?p=1773"},"modified":"2022-04-13T08:57:02","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T07:57:02","slug":"investigating-optometric-and-orthoptic-conditions-in-autistic-adults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/beamlab\/2022\/04\/13\/investigating-optometric-and-orthoptic-conditions-in-autistic-adults\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigating optometric and orthoptic conditions in autistic adults"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Dr Ketan Parmar summarises the findings from his study where he conducted eye examination on autistic adults. The researchers involved in the study were Drs Emma Gowen and Catherine Porter and Professor Chris Dickinson. The academic team collaborated with autistic individuals, Peter Baimbridge and James Pelham. This was part of a series of studies forming Ketan’s PhD. For more information please visit our website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rationale and objectives<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sensory issues are common amongst autistic people. As a result, they can experience difficulties with bright environments, lights, patterns, colours and movements. Also, autistic children are more likely to require spectacles, have eye coordination problems (e.g., a turned eye) and develop a lazy eye. Based on this it can be assumed that autistic people will visit an optometrist regularly. Unfortunately, autistic people can face difficulties accessing healthcare, and have poor experiences of healthcare services.<\/p>\n

Research up until now has focused on autistic children, many of whom also had a learning disability. We set out to investigate visual conditions in autistic adults without learning disabilities, who are currently underrepresented. We provided eye examinations for autistic adults to gain an understanding of presenting eye conditions in this group. We also conducted interviews with the participants to get more detailed information on the accessibility of eye examinations.<\/p>\n

What happened during the study<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Participants underwent a thorough eye examination which checked spectacle prescription, eye coordination and sensitivity to patterns (visual stress). At specific points during the eye examination, participants were asked questions about which eye tests they didn\u2019t like and why, which tests they liked and how the experience could be improved.<\/p>\n

Upon completion, participants were dispensed new spectacles or eye exercises if required. They attended follow-up appointments to review these.<\/p>\n

Additionally, at the beginning and end of this study, we asked participants to complete three questionnaires. These measured: autistic visual sensory experiences, how vision affected daily tasks, and the quality of vision when doing close work. We investigated whether providing new spectacles or treating eye coordination problems affected the outcomes of these questionnaires.<\/p>\n

Who took part?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

A total of 24 autistic adults without learning disabilities attended for an eye examination; 14 identified as male, 9 as female and 1 as non-binary.<\/p>\n

The age range of the participants was 18-67 years. The majority of participants wore spectacles and had undergone an eye examination within the last 2 years. Some participants also wore tinted lenses.<\/p>\n

What we found<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Participants presented with a wide range of optometric (spectacle related) and orthoptic (eye coordination related) issues, although they may not have necessarily been experiencing symptoms for these:<\/p>\n