I just wanted to pull out for notice one particular result in this study.
Conversely, the proxy-reported group did not as highly endorse mental health services, which is a departure from much of the literature. Mental health services have routinely been reported among the most needed and most often unmet services for Autistic adults. Given the frequency of co-occurring mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions in Autistic adults, it may be an underestimation of the need for mental health services on the part of proxy-respondents.
This really underscores in general the degree to which proxy-reports need to be carefully monitored by researchers. But it also very specifically highlights what could be a glaring problem for proxy-reports of the needs of autistic adults.
Given the degree to which the mental health needs of autistic adults have been corresponding to self-harm or suicidal ideation (if not actual suicide), this sort of reporting gap between actually-autistic adults and proxies should be seen as especially dangerous.