The practice of promoting happiness in autism

Description

Emotional wellbeing and happiness have received little attention in the field of autism.

When the focus is on wellbeing, it is often from a negative perspective, namely the lack of wellbeing and quality of life in autism. Based on the principles of positive psychology, Peter Vermeulen argues for a change in focus and suggests that instead of concentrating on the lack of emotional wellbeing in people with autism, strategies to facilitate their feeling of happiness should be developed. In this article, the main focus is on the first and most important step in promoting happiness in people with autism, namely the assessment of what gives people with autism a good feeling.

This article also describes the background of the Autism Good Feeling Questionnaire.

Based on the educational work with autistic adults, this article describes three autism-friendly ways to assess ‘good feeling’ in autism. Knowing the sources of happiness for a person with autism is a prerequisite for creating an environment that makes these sources available and for developing strategies that increase the person’s emotional wellbeing.

Article published in the journal Good Autism Practice in 2014.