Perspectives of University Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Abstract
Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at heightened risk of post-secondary educational failure and account for approximately 1% of students in post-secondary education. Findings from an on-line survey of students with ASD attending university in Australian are reported in this study. Respondents indicated high rates of academic and non-academic difficulties but low usage of supports. Ratings for supports were idiosyncratic, and some students indicated discomfort from using supports or disclosing their disability. Those students who delayed their disclosure accessed fewer supports and reported a poorer overall university experience. Recommendations were made including the need for better transition support and alternative strengths based approaches that use more flexible and individualised curriculum designs.
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The gap investigated by this work lies at the intersection of HCI work that actively involves neurodivergent subjects and literature investigating neurodivergent individuals in higher education and broad accessibility of universities and their systems.
“The gap investigated by this work lies at the intersection of the mentioned HCI work which actively involves its neurodivergent subjects [21, 29, 39, 64, 64, 93], and the body of literature which investigates the experience of these neurodivergent individuals in higher education [4, 14, 15, 51, 57, 70], as well as work investigatigating the broad accessibility of universities and their systems [3,”
From Burnout by Design: How Digital Systems Overburden Neurodivergent Students in Higher Education (2025) · cites this paper as [4]
Cites
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Self-citationThe University Experiences of Students with Learning Disabilities
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Neurodiversity in higher education: a narrative synthesis
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Sex modulation of faces prediction error in the autistic brain
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“…students, allow them to disclose their diagnosis safely, understand their difficulties with neurodivergence and co-morbidities, be non-judgemental of their choice whether or not to medicate, and encourage or facilitate peer interactions with other neurodivergent students [4, 14, 24, 25].”
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Sánchez-Cueva, S., Alonso-Esteban, Y., & Alcantud-Marín, F. (2021) · European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education · doi:10.3390/ejihpe11040111 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
- Authors
- Anderson, A. H., Carter, M., & Stephenson, J.
- Affiliations
- Macquarie University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Anderson, Anastasia H.
- Venue
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
- Published
- 2017-07-29
- Volume
- 48
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 651-665
- ISSN
- 0162-3257 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-3432
- OpenAlex
- W2741060690
- Cited by
- 204
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 7
- FWCI
- 30.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Education and Employment
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Education › Higher Education Research Studies
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, university students, postsecondary education, academic difficulties, disability disclosure, disability services, transition to higher education, strengths-based approach, student experience
- MeSH terms
- Autism Spectrum Disorder, Adolescent, Australia, Curriculum, Female, Humans, Male, Surveys and Questionnaires, Student Health Services, Students, Universities, Young Adult
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