Empowering Autistic Voices in Education

Brad Cox is an associate professor of Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education in the College of Education and the founder of the nonprofit College Autism Network.

Just as the Michigan State University academic year wraps up around the end of April, Autism Acceptance Month also concludes. However, for autistic college students across the country, the pursuit of increased awareness, acceptance, and support is a year-long, indeed life-long, endeavor.

The statistics about autism are widely recognized: 1 in 36 children has autism, a rate that has nearly doubled since Cox’s then four-year-old son was diagnosed in 2014. Naturally, these children eventually grow up, and an increasing number of them—perhaps more than 150,000 this year—are choosing to continue their educations by attending college. As a result, it’s likely that anyone visiting a college campus has interacted with an autistic student, often without realizing it.

Many autistic college students opt not to share this aspect of their identity with their institutions. For some, college represents an opportunity to explore other facets of their identities, while others fear that self-disclosure might lead to stigmatization. Additionally, some students do not want, need, or benefit from the academic accommodations typically offered by institutions’ disability service offices.

All autistic students—regardless of their choice to disclose—deserve to attend schools where they feel safe, respected, included, and supported. Thankfully, an increasing number of postsecondary educators are beginning to understand this imperative. One of the leading advocates for this message is the College Autism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to using advocacy, research, and training to enhance college access, experiences, and outcomes for autistic students.

When the College Autism Network was founded in 2016, it began as little more than a basic webpage and periodic conversations among a handful of like-minded colleagues and students, including several autistic self-advocates. Since then, the organization has hosted eight national conferences, provided in-person and web-based training for thousands of postsecondary professionals at hundreds of institutions, and introduced new research from dozens of emerging scholars to a global audience. Currently, they are developing a comprehensive process through which entire institutions can pursue a designation as an “Autism Inclusive Campus.”

In the meantime, autism-specific college support programs are emerging across the country. Nearly unheard of a decade ago, more than 100 such programs now exist—including one at Michigan State University. The Building Opportunities for Networking and Discovery program supports autistic Spartans in various ways, such as providing a customized orientation for incoming students, peer mentoring opportunities, social events, and one-on-one meetings with an autism expert on staff at the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities. Furthermore, a new credit-bearing course has been introduced to help students enhance their skills, access institutional resources, and build diverse networks that will assist them in achieving their academic, personal, and professional goals.

During his opening remarks at the first conference hosted by the College Autism Network nearly a decade ago, Brad Cox expressed concerns about whether they would be able to find a postsecondary institution where his son would feel safe, respected, included, and supported. Now, as his son completes his first year of high school and begins considering potential colleges, Cox feels confident that there will be many great options available.

However, he hopes that his son will choose Michigan State University. The focus on making college inclusive for autistic students is evident in the initiatives that have taken shape, which prioritize their needs and foster a supportive environment where they can thrive. By prioritizing inclusivity, colleges can pave the way for autistic students to succeed academically and socially, ensuring that they feel valued members of their educational communities.