# From Participants to Community Partners: A Novel Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Approach to Autistic-Led Inquiry in Digital and Virtual Environments

## TL;DR

This study explores how autistic young adults use virtual environments to lead discussions about social interaction and well-being, offering a new research approach.

## Contribution

A novel autistic-led participatory research method using social virtual environments to study autistic sociality and well-being.

## Key findings

- Autistic experiences in virtual environments involve managing interpretive risk and interactional workload.
- Peer-led discussions in SVEs were found to be feasible and acceptable for autistic participants.
- Community partners supported the use of private-world VRChat sessions for research.

## Abstract

Background/Objectives: Autism research has often interpreted autistic sociality through neurotypical norms, limiting ecological accounts of autistic meaning-making and context-sensitive support needs. Social virtual environments (SVEs), such as VRChat, allow modulation of sensory exposure, social distance, and participation pace, potentially enabling autistic-led interaction with greater autonomy and predictability. This study examined how autistic young adults co-construct meanings around social interaction, identity, and self-regulation in peer-led discussions within an SVE; identified context-sensitive processes relevant to well-being; and evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of SVEs as a participatory research setting. Methods: Sixteen autistic young adults (18–38 years; DSM-5-TR, Level 1) participated in nine remote sessions conducted in VRChat, coordinated via a co-designed Discord server. The peer-led discussions were audio-video recorded, transcribed, and anonymized. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, combining inductive session-level coding, cross-session thematic clustering, and participatory refinement with community partners. Results: Autistic experience was framed as a context-dependent negotiation of interpretive risk, interactional workload, masking-related energy costs, and epistemic injustice, alongside future-oriented accounts emphasizing access, dignity, and systemic redesign. Observational memos documented multimodal participation, distributed peer facilitation, and accessibility-relevant sensitivities to environmental stability. Community partners reported positive experiences and supported the acceptability of private-world VRChat sessions. Conclusions: Peer-led discussions in an SVE can support ecologically grounded, participant-centered qualitative research, offering methodological opportunities to study autistic meaning-making under conditions that reduce demands and risks.