Marginalised or missed? The curious case of influential autistic self-advocates in England: introducing the 3i instrument

This article argues that the social policy influence of marginalised groups is at risk of being underestimated, in the scholarship, policy communities and wider society. It proposes the 3i instrument: a new, triangulated approach to measuring influence with a broader set of indicators than usually attempted. These indicators, which are designed to include influence in its early stages, are explored through a case study of autistic self-advocates in England. Surprisingly, the results show not just that autistic self-advocates but, through them, the wider autistic community, have more policy influence than they or others expect, but that influence is also being missed in its later stages, indicating that researcher bias may also be a complicating factor. While a single case of ‘missed’ influence is not sufficient to generalise to other contexts and groups, this research opens the door to a wider methodological discussion and reflexivity on the part of researchers.