Abstract
When we opened the call for submissions of papers for this special issue, we could not have imagined the volume and quality of work that came through. Accordingly, we welcome you to the first of two Autism in Adulthood special issues focused on postsecondary education (also known as higher education). Postsecondary education is an important component on the pathway to career,1,2 as secure, well-paid, and revered jobs often require postsecondary credentialing. However, access to, experience within, and career development beyond postsecondary education are often fraught with layers of complexity, including struggle related to pervasive ableism, nonhelpful structures, policies and practices, and limited supports.3,4 Yet we increasingly see pockets of encouraging work in the urgent quest for accessible and inclusive postsecondary education.
Featuring a mix of original research, conceptual reflection, and perspectives, this special issue spans a wide range of issues facing Autistic people in postsecondary education. The issue includes an article by Margaret Janse van Rensburg and Bridget Liang that addresses current issues in postsecondary education and proposes widespread improvement. These authors note concerning ableist practices, attitudes, and structures, proposing substantial improvement to supports and accommodations, and the promotion of Autistic culture in postsecondary education. They call for collective action, with intentional attention to Autistic experience and support for students to thrive.
Autistic students’ transitions into higher education are often hindered by structural and interpersonal challenges,5–7 yet such difficulties often extend beyond postsecondary education commencement. Jade Davies and Charlotte Bagnall insightfully locate transition to university as a continuing process rather than what otherwise might be construed as a discrete moment or juncture. Meanwhile, Clive Trusson and Cheryl Travers examine student work placements and related support in university. The article specifically addresses Autistic students’ experience of work placements or internships and the associated supports. Results indicate the value and contributions of Autistic students in employment settings, yet barriers to student support. They offer recommendations to improve university-related work/internship support.
Articles consider insider viewpoints and multiple positionalities and standpoints. As an example, Laurel Hiatt relays the notion of “seeing yourself in a mentor who sees you.” This perspective piece illustrates benefits of peer mentorship in the challenging context of ableism. This article offers insightful considerations for supporting students with relationality and genuineness. Kayden Stockwell and colleagues examine Autistic students’ access to information related to supportive resources—elements that ultimately could contribute to better student experience and educational success. They identify problematic social demands and contexts in accessing needed information, reflective of current structures and barriers. Sydney Terroso and colleagues explore the relationship of depressive attributional style with anxiety and depression symptoms, as moderated by Autistic traits, among a sample of first-year university students. This study importantly incorporates intersectional marginalized identities. It identifies patterns of anxiety, sadness, and anhedonia in postsecondary education, related to preexisting depressive attributional style. The article informs and invites further mental health and autism research and support in postsecondary education and calls for attention to intersecting identities. By integrating scholarly review and personal reflection, Jenny Mai Phan reminds us of the important contributions of Autistic scholars in higher education, yet also multiple barriers and sources of inequity encountered such as communication conventions and writing standards. This piece calls for mentoring early career researchers and elevating neuroinclusivity in the academy. Such vital themes and insights are also conveyed in other articles in this special issue.
Several articles suggest the value of drawing on the rich contributions of Autistic researchers. Yet along with conveying and demonstrating the important role of Autistic scholars, the articles also concerningly amplify a deep tradition of ableism. Various articles cross geographic borders, positioning postsecondary education in autism as a critical issue worldwide that urgently warrants action and change. Gary Yu Hin Lam addresses experiences of Autistic students in Hong Kong, with a specific focus on positives in postsecondary education. Elixir Sagar, a doctoral scholar in India, offers their experience, with generosity, authenticity, and insight.
We also recognize how key practitioners within postsecondary education deeply impact Autistic postsecondary students’ experiences, as evidenced in a few articles. As examples, Jade Davies and Charlotte Bagnall offer the perspectives of postsecondary education disability services staff, based on their support to Autistic students. Amelia Anderson addresses autism-informed professional education for academic librarians, with potential for improved library services.
Taken together, the articles in this issue provide an important glimpse into the current state of postsecondary education and echo a growing call for deep change such as improved structures, processes, and practices that are neuroinclusive. Moving forward requires action, including, but not limited to, the following:
Improve access to, through, and beyond postsecondary education. Critically and inclusively reconstitute teaching, learning, and research processes. Offer accessible environments and practices. Integrate support and mentorship in authentic and beneficial ways. Ensure equity in campus life.
In this work, we must allocate more attention to distinct postsecondary settings such as community colleges, polytechnics, trade schools and universities, as well as the range of needs and priorities of undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate trainees. Areas of challenge are numerous—a few examples are as follows:
Admission adjudication processes. Classroom assignments and evaluation. Hiring of trainees, staff, and faculty members. Processes of tenure and promotion.
Consistent with others,3,8 we conclude that advancing neurodiversity initiatives in postsecondary education requires neurodivergent leadership!
From the collection of articles in this issue and emerging questions, critical inquiry addresses and further provokes queries such as “What facilitates—and impedes—post-secondary educational experiences and outcomes for Autistic people?” Thinking critically and systemically and honoring first-person experiences—as illustrated in these articles—offer hope in our collective quest for concrete steps forward. Toward that end, we thank the authors of this and the upcoming postsecondary education special issue who have generously offered research, insight, and experience.
In closing, we agree with scholars9,10 in recognizing that addressing intersectionality in postsecondary education deeply matters. Researchers hold a responsibility to include perspectives beyond groups more typically represented in existing scholarship, such as those who are White, middle to upper income, cisgender, and male. Accordingly, we must inclusively engage and consider the breadth of intersectional identities—ethnocultural background, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, geographic region, and so forth and important diversities across the autism spectrum. The articles in this issue offer varied locationalities and perspectives, although admittedly, more representation across identities is needed in sharing the full breadth of the Autistic experience.
These articles convey an ethic and urgency to move from an ableist orientation to a dynamic of honoring and valuing neurodiversity as the fabric of postsecondary education. We concur.