Research

Typical accommodations for students with autism in higher education focus on academic issues. But students with autism might also benefit from mentors focused on social and emotional needs. Such guidance would be especially important for students just beginning their college experience.

Formal accommodations may not adequately support students’ academic needs. One reason for this deficiency is that student accommodations are not always fulfilled by teachers, which can be very challenging for students.

We compared stigma towards college students with different disorders and examined factors that contribute to stigma towards autism in particular. Findings suggest that autism is less stigmatized on college campuses than disorders like psychopathy and schizophrenia which may be perceived as dangerous. Indeed, stigma towards the label “autism” was associated with perceived dangerousness. Stigma was consistently related to quality of prior contact with autism, suggesting that interventions which put autistic students into high quality contact with peers are powerful tools for stigma reduction.