Introducing Myself and Spectrum for Life (S4L)

I am Dr. T. A. Meridian McDonald, the principal investigator of Spectrum for Life (S4L) and a member affiliate of the Frist Center for Autism and Innovation. I have been an innovative neurodiversity-affirming researcher since 2005. I have expanded my career to practice as a licensed professional counseling. I received the honor of designing and earning my one-of-a-kind, interdisciplinary PHD focused primary on autism. I have two Masters degrees (Developmental Psychology, Counseling Psychology). I also completed the Leadership in Education for Neurodevelopmental Disorders programs (General and Advanced Leadership). To learn more about my extensive education and training experiences, please visit www.tamcdonald.org.

Bio Background: I am a multiracial, multiply-neurodivergent (autism; production dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysphasia; etc) and disabled (e.g., Ehlers Danlos, autoimmune, etc), queer, first-generation college graduate/academic from a multiplex family (multiple autistic family members). Both of my parents are multiracial, neurodivergent, and disabled and my mother was an undocumented immigrant. I experienced poverty (personal and intergenerational), housing and education insecurity, trauma, and other ACES in childhood. I exited the K-12 education system before completing 9th grade, and experienced homelessness for several years before and after attaining my GED at age 20. I raised my multiply neurodivergent and disabled son as a single parent. These direct experiences informed by training experiences and my research. More about my bio and path toward becoming a PhD, researcher, and therapist can be found here: https://www.cccco.edu/About-Us/News-and-Media/California-Community-Colleges-Outlook-Newsletter/citrus-college-autism-researcher.

I started Spectrum for Life because

  • Neurodiversity-Affirming Research is woefully underfunded in the United States. From its inception, Spectrum for Life (S4L) focuses entirely on factors related to Autistic Flourishing. These factors include a neurodiversity-affirming unifying theory of autism (BAPCO-DMAP) to better understand autism; Autistic self-determination; Autistic identity; co-occurring conditions and circumstances; discrimination and more. Scroll down the home page at spectrumforlife.com for more information about research at S4L.
  • Over time, I was able to gain greater independence of my Lab- eventually creating the independent Spectrum for Life Organization. This was important to me since working within other organizations created pressure to engage in or promote research that is non-affirming or even eugenics-related. There was also pressure to forgo neurodiversity-affirming research due to lack of funding sources. Researchers are encouraged to “chase the money” which is problematic when funding agencies prioritize non-affirming research. These pressures went against my personal and professional ethics.
  • Spectrum for Life directly collaborates with other neurodivergent researchers and students as well as allies. I work with established researchers as well as undergraduates and graduate students from a wide range of institutions. I also work with passionate people outside of academia when there is mutual interest. Feel free to contact me at: https://spectrumforlife.com/contact-s4l/

Feel free to browse through the website or, even, take part in the S4L Interconnected Surveys Study! We are glad you are here!

Autism Spectrum Identity Scale (ASIS) Cited in Brazilian Research – Call for Adaptation and Validation with New Population

Happy to see that the Autism Spectrum Identity Scale (ASIS) which I developed and validated for use with autistic adults was one of the assessments reviewed within this Brazilian Research. They found that the majority of the assessments in the review neither focused on the characteristics of women nor were validated (adapted) for the Brazilian population. Although the ASIS validation research included women, this work has not yet been validated for Brazilian or Portuguese-speaking populations.

As always, I am happy to provide permission for validation research using the ASIS- feel free to contact me through this site or ResearchGate!!

Spectrum for Life Research Cited

Research on Spectrum Pathways cited!

Happy to see the Spectrum Pathways program (neurodiversity-based self-determination program) cited within the research literature!

“Given the uniqueness of the expression of self-determination in young adults with autism, tailored interventions are needed to address the specific support needs of this population. However, to the best of our knowledge, only four self determination programs targeting young adults with autism have been developed: the ACCESS Program (Oswald et al., 2018), the McGill Transition Support Program (Nadig et al., 2018), the Family-centered Transition program developed by Hagner et al. (2012), and the recent neurodiversity-based self-determination program by McDonald et al. (2023).”

…”Finally, McDonald et al.‘s (2023) program is based on neurodiversity theory and aims to support young adults with autism (ages 18–34) in developing self-determination through a combination of group and individual sessions, integrating peer coaching and conflict resolution strategies. Although efficacy data are not yet available, a pilot study reported good appropriateness, high acceptability and good feasibility among participants and coaches. None of these programs have been delivered in Spanish to date.”

…”Of these four programs, only the program by McDonald (2023) is based on the principles of the latest version of the self-determination framework, CAT (Shogren et al., 2015), despite the potential of this framework to guide programs that promote self-determination.”

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10803-025-06739-6

July 27, 2023 Free Autism Research Presentation

AIR-P Presents: Mind the NIH-Funding Gap: Structural Discrimination in Physical Health-Related Research for Cognitively Able Autistic Adults

https://www.aucd.org/template/event.cfm?event_id=9675&id=379&parent=379

Come find out why there is so little research on physical health conditions in autism- and recommendations for change!

Webinar Description

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Topics will include:

  • Importance of addressing physical health disparity conditions in autistic adults
  • Description of conflicts of interest within an NIH-funded culture of academia that contribute to systemic structural discrimination in funding policies 
  • Structural discrimination in NIH-funded studies on physical health disparity conditions in autistic adults

This webinar is supported by data in McDonald and Scudder’s (2023) article and can be read here. 

Free Event (Presentation)! Mind the NIH-Funding Gap: Structural Discrimination in Physical Health-Related Research for Cognitively Able Autistic Adults

I am presenting on April 18- if you are interested in the topic, you are welcome to join: Mind the NIH-Funding Gap: Structural Discrimination in Physical Health-Related Research for Cognitively Able Autistic Adults

Description: In this webinar, Dr. McDonald will discuss the lack of NIH-funded research focused on physical health disparity conditions in autistic adults. Using data from the NIH RePORTER (a publicly available government spending transparency tool), we used 30 major health disparity terms (e.g., insomnia, cardiovascular disease) paired with the terms “autism” and “adult” to investigate grants funded by the NIH on these conditions. In four decades, the NIH had not funded a single grant aimed with improving any of the 30 health disparity conditions in autistic adults. Only four grants met criteria for inclusion and these only generally examined physical health disparity conditions (e.g., investigation of electronic health records). We describe three process nodes that contribute to structural discrimination in grant funding for studies on physical health in cognitively-able autistic adults. These nodes include a) explicitly discriminatory funding priorities; b) discrimination in the more refined set of funding priorities as described by program officers and directors; and c) a culture of NIH-funded academia that discourages early career researchers from investigating, reporting, and decrying structural disability discrimination in NIH funding. https://airpnetwork.ucla.edu/events/monthly-webinars