After working through the questionnaire responses and coding the data, I developed four final themes. At this stage, I wanted to step away from the individual codes and look at what the responses were collectively telling me about autistic adults’ experiences of international travel.

I ended with four themes:

1. Independence is about control, not simply doing everything alone
2. When travel becomes unpredictable, people may need more help to manage it
3. The environment can make it harder for autistic travellers to self-regulate
4. Fragmented travel systems make independent travel harder

What became interesting was how much these themes overlapped. Difficulties with travel were rarely caused by one isolated thing. Instead, independence, uncertainty, the environment and access to information seemed to affect one another throughout the journey.

1. Independence is about control, not simply doing everything alone

One of the most interesting things to emerge was that participants understood independence in different ways. Some described it as being able to travel or complete tasks without needing help from another person. However, other responses suggested that support could actually make independence more achievable.

P01 described independence as:

“Having the support to be able to develop and grow in independence.”

P09 also spoke about wanting travel to be easier without having to ask staff for help, while emphasising:

“i still want to be independent.”

This created an interesting tension within the responses. Support and independence do not necessarily have to be opposites. The type of support, when it appears, and how much control the traveller retains may be more important than simply whether support exists.

2. When travel becomes unpredictable, people may need more help to manage it

Unpredictability appeared repeatedly across the responses, particularly around airports, security, timings, delays and changing information.

P01 explained:

“I need everything to be prepared and organised and when the structure is changed such as change in location of the boarding area, I find it very stressful.”

Timing could create a similar problem. P09 described either misjudging how much time was needed or compensating by arriving extremely early:

“ill allow loads of extra time and then im sat overwhelmed in the airport for hours on end.”

P10 also identified difficulties when:

“part of my timeline has changed due to delays that were out of my control…”

These responses made me think about travel barriers differently. The problem is not necessarily just that international travel is stressful. Not knowing what will happen, when something will happen, or what to do when circumstances change can make maintaining control much harder.

3. The environment can make it harder for autistic travellers to self-regulate

Sensory experiences were another strong part of the responses, including noise, crowds, physical proximity, confinement and difficulty finding somewhere to recover.

P01 described airports as:

“very overwhelming - large crowds, lots of noise, large areas, confusion in where to go…”

However, the responses suggested something more complicated than simply finding particular environments unpleasant.

P07 described becoming anxious about nausea while also being:

“unable to remove myself from a crowded situation and no fresh air…”

P05 explained:

“I can only travel alone if I pay for business class so I know someone won't be sat next to me basically touching me, and I can access a lounge to decompress…”

This made control over the environment particularly interesting. Participants may know how they need to regulate themselves, but the travel environment does not always allow them to do so.

P05’s response also raises another issue: sometimes greater control can be accessed through lounges, fast-track services or more expensive seating, meaning that access to a more manageable environment can become a financial accessibility issue as well.

4. Fragmented travel systems make independent travel harder

The final theme concerned the amount of information involved in international travel and how fragmented that information can become.

Participants were often already actively researching, planning, checking routes, making lists and using technology. The problem therefore did not seem to be a complete lack of information. Instead, information could be spread across different services, stages and systems.

P02 suggested:

“having an app that connects everything together eg travel plans (plane, train, bus etc) and hostels combined.”

P09 wanted:

“Just somewhere with structured info. or maybe someone i can talk to about it before i go.”

Similarly, P10 suggested:

“Definitely an app to store all your travel information and to guide you on your way.”

Although several participants mentioned apps, I do not want to interpret this immediately as meaning that an app is the solution. What seems more important at this stage is the underlying need being expressed: information that is connected, structured, understandable and available at the point it is needed.

Reflection

Completing the analysis has helped me move beyond simply identifying individual barriers such as noise, crowds, security or confusing information.

What stands out to me now is the recurring idea of control. Control appears in different forms across all four themes: control over whether and how support is received, control when plans change, control over sensory and physical surroundings, and control over information throughout a journey.

I am also particularly interested in the contradiction around independence. I initially could have understood independence simply as travelling without assistance, but the responses suggest something more nuanced. Support may sometimes be what allows someone to travel more independently.

At this point, I do not want to turn these findings directly into a design outcome. Instead, the questionnaire has given me a clearer idea of what I need to investigate next.

My next step will be to take one of the ideas emerging from these findings and deep-dive into it through further research, rather than deciding what I am designing too early.

Link to the data sheet:

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