Exploring personalised travel strategies of autistic adults: A case study of Indonesian urban context
Abstract
Autistic individuals encounter serious challenges in navigating public spaces, including difficulty with trips, resulting in heavy reliance on caregivers and limited independent mobility. However, research on inclusive transportation tends to overlook the diverse experiences of neurodivergent groups, including individuals on the autism spectrum, particularly in Global South contexts. Little is known about how autistic individuals manage daily travel in developing urban environments like Indonesia, where insufficient transport infrastructure, safety concerns, and social norms uniquely shape their daily travels. This study explores the travel experiences of autistic adults in Bandung, Indonesia. Drawing on in-depth and walk-along interviews and observations in locations such as the campus and hiking area with two autistic adults with high-functioning traits and their caregivers, the research identifies how autistic participants develop personalised travel strategies through self-regulation, masking, the use of digital navigation apps, and personal tools to manage sensory sensitivities, cognitive demands, and social discomfort. They perceived daily trips as challenging, requiring pre-planning and routine travel customs that support emotional regulation and reduce cognitive and sensory overload. The travel strategies they developed reflect ongoing adaptations that have become habitual to cope with transport systems rarely designed to accommodate neurodivergent transport users. The study reframes their adaptive strategies as a form of agency to control over their mobility in the face of systemic ableism in neurotypical society. These findings underscore the urgent need for neurodiversity-affirming transport policies, particularly in Global South cities striving toward mobility justice.
Keywords: Ableism, autism, Global South, independent mobility, masking, transportation
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