Autism and Accommodations in Higher Education: Insights from the Autism Community.
Autistic students say colleges must add sensory rooms and peer mentors to the usual academic accommodations.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Sarrett (2018) asked autistic college students what extra help they really want.
The team ran open interviews. Students shared stories about lecture halls, dorms, and social life.
No tests or grades were measured—just voices.
What they found
Students said academic accommodations are only the start.
They want quiet sensory rooms, peer mentors, and clubs that celebrate neurodiverse brains.
They said these extras would keep them enrolled and happy.
How this fits with other research
Ben-Sasson et al. (2019) crunched numbers from many labs and found large sensory problems in autistic people. Their data back the students’ plea for low-noise campus spaces.
Smit et al. (2019) showed that college mentors gain empathy when they guide students with intellectual disability. The autistic students in Sarrett (2018) want the same model, but for autism.
Pettingell et al. (2022) found mentors prefer helping with schoolwork, not social life. This looks like a clash—students want social support, mentors like academic tasks. The fix: pair each goal. Let mentors tutor for credit and then hang out at the sensory-friendly club.
Why it matters
You can write one-page cheat sheets for professors that list sensory breaks, peer mentor contacts, and neurodiverse club info. Tape it inside every syllabus. Small add-ons, big payoff in retention.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This article builds on the growing body of research on higher education for autistic students by soliciting input from autistic adults on their higher education experiences and suggestions on making these experiences more 'autism-friendly'. Sixty-six individuals participated in a national exploratory survey and thirty-one participated in follow-up, online focus groups. The article reviews the accommodations individuals received and the accommodations they would have liked to receive. Concrete strategies are provided for institutes of higher education to address the social and sensory needs of autistic students, areas many participants reported being neglected in their academic experience, such as mentors and a neurodiverse space. These suggestions are intended to complement traditional academic accommodations to improve the outcomes of autistic students.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2018 · doi:10.1007/s10803-017-3353-4