Abstract
Background:
Previous research has found that people can make a variety of judgments about others based on brief samples of their behavior such as judging their social favorability and whether they wish to socialize with them. Non-autistic people frequently perceive autistic people more negatively than non-autistic people, although we do not fully understand the real-world consequences of this perceptual bias. This study extends previous work by investigating these perceptual biases within a real-world context: university.
Method:
Non-autistic university students (n = 25) watched short, candid video clips of autistic and non-autistic people. Participants rated different aspects of the stimulus model’s academic experience, focusing on their motivation to study, academic success, grades, and happiness at university.
Results:
Across all measures, non-autistic participants judged the academic experience of autistic models more negatively than non-autistic models, perceiving lower academic motivation, success, grades, and happiness at university.
Conclusion:
These results demonstrate a consistent negative bias that autistic students may face from their peers at university. We discuss the importance of these results in terms of autism stigma and the potential consequences for improving inclusivity at university.
Community Brief
Why is this an important issue?
The number of autistic students entering university is higher than ever before, but recent evidence suggests that their academic outcomes are poorer than those of non-autistic students. For instance, 60% of autistic students do not complete their university studies, compared with a UK average discontinuation rate of 6.7%. Understanding the barriers that autistic students face is important for understanding where they might need additional support.
What was the purpose of this study?
We designed this study to investigate how non-autistic students view their autistic peers.
What did the researchers do?
The researchers used short, silent video clips of autistic and non-autistic people while they were thinking about an emotional experience. We showed these video clips to 25 non-autistic student participants, who made a variety of academic judgments about them. Participants did not know the diagnosis of the people in the video clips.
What were the results of the study?
Despite not knowing the diagnosis of the person in the video, participants judged autistic people more negatively than non-autistic people for all judgment types. Specifically, participants rated autistic students as having lower academic motivation, success, happiness, and grades at university.
What do these findings add to what was already known?
This study provides striking preliminary evidence that non-autistic peers perceive autistic students as less academically capable. This finding highlights an important social barrier that might impact autistic student success at university. These findings emphasize the importance of creating a more inclusive and supportive environment for autistic individuals in higher education.
What are potential weaknesses in the study?
In this study, we did not know what the true academic performance of the autistic and non-autistic students was. So, we could not distinguish whether our participants were picking up on something true to life, or if they were making general negative judgments about autistic people. We need to complete further work to figure out which of these is more correct. Another weakness is that our sample of non-autistic students was small, and we did not test whether their perceptions of autistic people might differ depending on their knowledge about autism or other personal characteristics. Finally, no autistic people helped design, test, or interpret this study.
How will these findings help autistic adults now or in the future?
These findings can help autistic adults by raising awareness of the negative judgments operating within university settings. Further work needs to examine the impact of these negative judgments on academic performance and identify ways of altering biased perceptions to promote inclusive university environments.
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