Introduction to the Participatory Autism Research Collective (PARC) and the Neurodiversity stream

The Participatory Autism Research Collective (PARC) was initially developed at London South Bank University (LSBU) by Dr Damian Milton and Professor Nicola Martin, with the first meeting being held in April 2015. PARC was set up with the purpose of bringing together 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 presentation explores the development of the PARC network and its work to date as an introduction to the Neurodiversity stream that the PARC network is hosting.