Seeking Community Input: Help Healthcare Implement Autism-friendly Practices
April 14, 2025
Autism New Jersey, with the support of Healthcare Consortium members, has drafted an “Autism-friendly Healthcare Practices: Self-assessment and Quality Improvement Tool.” This groundbreaking resource will provide healthcare settings with a set of well-defined and consensus-based quality autism-friendly practice indicators. This list of autism-friendly practices, coupled with resources and best-practice examples, will allow healthcare providers and systems to assess their current actions, prioritize and plan practices for improvement, and support in better autism-friendly practice implementation.
This draft incorporates published research, best-practice examples from across the country, professional expertise of autism and healthcare experts, caregivers of those with autism, and self-advocates. Before it is finalized and shared with healthcare settings around the state, we want additional input from the autism community.
Autistic patients or their caregivers throughout New Jersey have had positive and negative experiences with healthcare providers. They also know what types of practices, environments, and interactions help them access high-quality and compassionate healthcare. This brief overview video gives more information on this important resource, and viewers will have the chance to provide their thoughts on it. Please consider spending some of your valuable time to help us ensure that this self-assessment and improvement tool is valuable and effective throughout all of New Jersey’s healthcare settings.
And hurry! If you provide input by April 28th, it will also be shared with autism services and healthcare leaders at an upcoming Healthcare Consortium meeting.