The Experiences of College Students on the Autism Spectrum: A Comparison to Their Neurotypical Peers.

Wormald et al. (2019) ran an online survey at one U.S. university. They asked autistic students, students with other disabilities, and neurotypical students about grades, friendships, and health. Then they compared the three groups.

Both autistic students and students with other disabilities reported lower grades, fewer friends, and more health problems than neurotypical peers. The struggles looked the same across disability types. The authors say the cause is shared disability stigma, not autism-specific traits.

Jackson et al. (2025) later counted exact numbers: two-thirds of autistic students scored in the clinical range for anxiety, six times the rate of peers. Their hard numbers back up the softer ‘poor health’ hint in Wormald et al. (2019).

Cruz-Montecinos et al. (2024) interviewed autistic students and heard why stigma hurts: many hide their diagnosis and limit disclosure to survive campus life. Their stories add depth to the survey stats in Wormald et al. (2019).

DeNigris et al. (2018) seems to disagree at first glance—they found autistic students felt less bullied in college and even gained pride from past bullying. Yet both can be true: overt bullying may drop while quiet stigma (poor grades, fewer friends) remains, exactly what Wormald et al. (2019) captured.

If you advise college students or run a campus support program, think ‘universal design’ instead of autism-only groups. Push for disability-wide tutoring centers, flexible deadlines, and stigma-reduction campaigns that include all diagnoses. One quick move: add a disability-inclusive statement on every syllabus and train professors to use it.