Events
Dissertation Presentation: Quinn Oteman
PhD candidate Quinn Oteman will present his dissertation "Alone but Not Lonely: Examining Social Inclusion, Community Participation, and Solitary Activities in Autistic Adults with Co-Occurring Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities."
Advisor: Joseph R. Merighi, PhD
Committee: Mimi Choy-Brown, PhD, Traci LaLiberte, PhD, and Amy Hewitt, PhD (Department of Educational Psychology and Institute on Community Integration)
When: Monday, August 24, 2026 from 9:00 to 10:00 am
Where: Peters 280 or Zoom
Dissertation abstract: Autistic adults with co-occurring intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are often supported within Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS), where participation in community settings is commonly assumed to promote social inclusion and opportunities for social connection. However, less is known about how community participation relates to friendship and loneliness-related outcomes for autistic adults with co-occurring IDD.
This dissertation used secondary data from the 2023–2024 National Core Indicators–In Person Survey (NCI-IPS), a nationally recognized dataset designed to assess outcomes among individuals with IDD receiving publicly funded services. Analyses were restricted to adults with a documented autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis and co-occurring IDD receiving HCBS supports (n = 4,881) from the larger NCI-IPS sample (N = 17,585). Grounded in Social Role Valorization theory, this study examined prevalence and predictors of participation in community groups and religious services, associations between current and desired participation, and relationships among participation, friendship outcomes, and loneliness-related indicators. Weighted descriptive statistics, chi-square analyses, and binary and multinomial logistic regression models were used.
Results indicated that participation in community groups and religious services was relatively limited and showed inconsistent associations with friendship-related outcomes. Structural and contextual factors, particularly living arrangement, self-report status, speech ability, and level of intellectual disability, were more consistent predictors of friendship outcomes than participation alone. Religious service attendance was modestly associated with the ability to see friends when desired in select models. Findings suggest that community participation alone is insufficient to explain social connection for autistic adults with co-occurring IDD. Instead, structural conditions, communication access, and self-determination appear central to meaningful relationship formation.
These findings contribute to disability and autism research by challenging assumptions that physical presence in community settings necessarily leads to social inclusion and can inform HCBS policy, service delivery, and interventions aimed at promoting friendship, belonging, and quality of life for autistic adults with co-occurring IDD.
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