Focus Groups Agenda

Agenda

Welcome (Estimated 5 minutes)

• Reference Recommended Resources.

Intro to ableism

Group participation

Let’s Get to Know Each Other (Estimated 15 minutes) 

• Introductions are welcomed, but optional.

• Ideas:  

  • Please call me _______. My pronouns are _____.

  • The reason I am here today is _______________.

  • One thing that is important to me is ___________.

  • One thing I want people to know about me is____.

Building Safe Space (Estimated 30 minutes)

Many in the Autism Community don't trust doctors and researchers. Autistic people and parents often have different opinions. Some things are hard to talk about. 

Think about a group that includes doctors, parents, researchers, and autistics. 

• What makes it safe for everyone to be heard in this kind of group?

What interests you in research?  (Estimated 20 minutes)

People like research for different reasons. Certain autism research topics interest different people. We want to know more about your interest in Autism research.

Imagine we gave you a million dollars for Autism research.

• What would you study? 

What support do you need to work on a research project? (Estimated 40 minutes)

In a research group, you share your ideas. You may have assigned tasks and work with other people. We all need different things so we can show up and do our best work. Those are the kind of things we want to find out.

If you had the chance to work with a research group: 

• What would make it possible for you to join and participate on a project?

Wrap-up (Estimated 5 minutes)

Thank You & Next Steps (Estimated 5 minutes)

Detailed agenda with additional possible questions