Supporting autistic students through university using a collaborative participatory research approach

Autistic people are entering higher education in increasing numbers. Research on understanding their
experiences and support needs has emerged in the last few years, but few studies have involved
multiple stakeholders (e.g. higher education staff, counsellors) and spanned across countries. Such largescale
research is necessary to understand universal versus culture-specific experiences, opportunities,
challenges, and support needs, which would enable policy-makers and support-providers to make
relevant supports available according to each sociocultural setting. The present project proposes the
exact abovementioned collaborative participatory research, and the involvement of autistic and nonautistic
students throughout the project would ensure that proposed measures are relevant, useful, and
implementable.
Methods & Design
Two survey instruments will be designed, to separately identify support needs of autistic students and
learning needs of non-autistic students. Autistic and non-autistic academics, students, and disability and
health service providers would discuss the design of the instruments via video calls which would be
facilitated by the research team. Discussions would center around evaluating and improving existing
supports and/or developing new ones, identifying barriers and facilitators to providing supports, and
curating ideas to reduce stigma and improve inclusivity in higher education.
Instruments will be validated before being disseminated to their relevant target audiences. Study
findings would inform policies and supports both at a broader (e.g. country-wide) level and a narrower,
more specific level (e.g. within a particular university). The project is thus an important first step towards
a multi-stakeholder collaborative effort in making higher education systems more inclusive on a global
scale.