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The Participatory Autism Research Collective (PARC) was initially set up with the purpose of bringing autistic people, including scholars and activists (but not exclusively), together with early career researchers and practitioners who work with autistic people, with the aim being to build a community where those who wished to see more significant involvement of autistic people in autism research could share knowledge and expertise. This paper aims to discuss this issue.

This paper explores the development of the PARC network, reflecting upon its activities and ethos within current higher education practices and structures.

In supporting autistic individuals in their attempts to establish themselves within academic systems that may not always be considerate or accommodating, the existence of PARC creates a structure with which autistic people can influence social change. PARC serves as a network of support, strengthening the presence of autistic scholars in academia. It also provides a structure through which autistic people are able to demonstrate helpful practices with which to engage more broadly.

The PARC network is the first autistic-led venture of its kind in the UK to have a sustained impact. PARC is growing to become an important element in the field of autism studies both by supporting emerging autistic academics and by promoting ethical and participatory research methods and practices.

There have been recent calls for research into the impulse shopping behaviours of adolescent consumers – an important topic because adolescents are: an increasingly important market segment; a segment which has recently been empowered by the availability of easy credit; and which is increasingly targeted by strategic marketing collateral. This paper responds to the call by aiming to focus on the impulse shopping behaviours of adolescents.

The research is qualitative in nature and utilises lengthy mini focus group interviews of both adolescent and adult consumer shoppers. The verbatim transcriptions are then subjected to both manual and automated textual analysis to derive conceptual and thematic maps of each group's discussions in relation to impulse shopping.

Consistent with recent neuropsychological literature on adolescents, the findings show clear differences between adolescents and adults in relation to impulse shopping. Significant differences were found in the areas of antecedent moods, shopping purpose, and the range of perceived constraints which may moderate impulse shopping behaviour. The research also shows that impulse buying among adolescents is a behaviour which is undertaken often in response to stress and/or a need for mood amelioration and further that their conceptualisation of impulse shopping is only distantly related to a deficient set of perceived constraints when compared to adult shoppers.

This improved understanding of the bases of adolescent impulse shopping will assist in the design of educational programs to reduce the frequency of adolescent financial problems.

There may be a reduction in the number of adolescents facing resultant financial hardship.

This is the first such study which reports the belief structures of adolescent impulse shoppers versus adults.

Fiction has the potential to dispel myths and helps improve public understanding and knowledge of the experiences of under-represented groups. Representing the diversity of the population allows individuals to feel included, connected with and understood by society. Whether women and girls with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are adequately and accurately represented in fictional media is currently unknown. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Internet and library searches were conducted to identify female characters with ASD in works of fiction. Examples of such works were selected for further discussion based on their accessibility, perceived historical and cultural significance and additional characteristics that made the work particularly meaningful.

The search highlighted a number of female characters with ASD across a range of media, including books, television, film, theatre and video games. Many were written by authors who had a diagnosis of the condition themselves, or other personal experience. Pieces largely portrayed characters with traits that are highly recognised within the academic literature. However, some also appeared to endorse outdated myths and stereotypes. Existing works appear to preferentially portray high functioning autistic women, with limited representation of those whom also have intellectual disability.

This is the first exploration of the depiction of ASD in females within fiction. There is a need for more works of fiction responsibly depicting females with ASD, as this can help reduce stigma, develop public awareness and recognition and increase representation.