Omission and Othering: Constructing Autism on Community College Websites

Nachman, B. R. & Brown, K. R. (2019). Omission and Othering: Constructing Autism on Community College Websites. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 44(3), 211-223. https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2019.1565845

Publication date: 22 Jan 2019 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
2
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 2 (50.0%)

Abstract

Students with autism attend two-year colleges at a significantly greater rate than four-year institutions. As these prospective and current students engage with two-year colleges, websites are an important digital platform to assess inclusivity and campus climate. The digital environment is particularly important because many autistic individuals prefer to engage in written communication. We employed a critical content analysis to understand the digital campus climate at public two-year colleges (n = 94) by analyzing website content that colleges use to describe autism. Findings show that the digital campus climate was unwelcoming for the vast majority of prospective and current students with autism. Autism was omitted from 29.8% of institutional websites. Colleges located in the eastern or western areas of the United States had lower rates of omission. When references to autism were present, website content used medical and legal language to depict autistic students as deficient. Institutional websites othered students by objectifying autism and using volunteer or charity work to frame autism as outside of normalcy. Text written by autistic people (students, alumni, staff, or organizations) was absent from all but one institutions’ website. Implications for practitioners include addressing institutionalized ableism by modifying websites to include autism-specific content, removing deficit narratives, and amplifying autistic agency by including material written by autistic individuals.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Bibliography inclusion overview

These indicators describe the cited bibliography imported for this publication. Cited-reference metrics use the cited-reference total as denominator. Cited-author metrics state whether they use all cited-author occurrences or only occurrences linked to authors already integrated in the AutiHub database. They use cached links between cited authors and authors integrated in the AutiHub database. Last computed: 16 Aug 2026 11:31.

Cited references
86
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
2 / 86 (2.3%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
3 / 146 (2.1%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 3 / 21 (14.3%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 3 / 138 (2.2%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
21 / 146 (14.4%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 17 / 138 (12.3%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
18 / 21 (85.7%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 18 / 146 (12.3%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 14 / 17 (82.4%).
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