The University of Cambridge is researching the intersection of comics and autism in partnership with the Comics Cultural Impact Collective and the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, beginning with the creation of a Best Practice Guide to help make comics communities as inclusive and accessible as possible for autistic people.
The University is looking at how best to support neurodivergent people to enjoy comics and comic events, and is currently looking for autistic comic fans to assist in the research with the launch of anonymous Collaboration for Comics and Autism Survey, aimed at anyone autistic and a creator or fan of comics; or an organiser, employee or volunteer of a comics organisation, event, project or community group.
Professor Jenny Gibson, Professor of Neurodiversity and Developmental Psychology at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, describes the project as “kick-starting a wider conversation about comics and autism”.
“Comics seem to have massive appeal for a surprising number of autistic people,” she told The Independent, “and many of them are not just fans but enormously talented cartoonists, artists and illustrators.
“What we lack is information about how we can best do that, partly because we don’t know enough about the perspectives and experiences of autistic comics enthusiasts.”
Jenny leads the Play and Communication Lab research group at the University of Cambridge, focused on neurodiversity-affirming research on play, autism, language development and mental health. She is also a co-director of PEDAL, the centre for research on Play in Education, Development and Learning, and a co-director of CHIA, the Centre for Human-Inspired Artificial Intelligence.
The PacLab team investigate human development, flourishing and neurodiversity. They also conduct research about specific neurodivergent groups, specialising in autism and developmental language disorder. Their work is rooted in developmental psychology and we have many interdisciplinary influences including; disability studies, linguistics, computer science, psychiatry, literary studies and education.
If you are over 18 and based in the UK, and are: autistic and a creator or fan of comics; or an organiser, employee or volunteer of a comics organisation, event, project or community group; or both of the above, the CCIC and University of Cambridge would like to hear from you.
• Together with Dr Umar Toseeb and Dr Hannah Hobson, Jenny Gibson has written an article reflecting on what neurodiversity affirming research practice for those with DLD what mean
• The Comics Cultural Impact Collective
An independent group of professionals within the UK comics community, working together with the aim of raising awareness of the cultural impact of comics
• The Lakes International Comic Art Festival
In addition to its annual Festival (26th – 28th September 2025), the Festival partner with national and international organisations to promote and research comics – find out more about this work on Comics Can Change the World, including the UK Comics Laureate program
