Autistics working in academia: What are the barriers and facilitators?

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Jones, S. C. (2022). Autistics working in academia: What are the barriers and facilitators? Autism, 27(3), 822-831. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613221118158

Publication date: 11 Aug 2022 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)
  1. Sandra C. Jones *

Abstract

Autistic people are under-represented in university student populations, but their numbers are growing, and the barriers to their inclusion are being recognised. Outside of the student body, autistic people in academia are often overlooked, although this is starting to change with the growth in inclusive autism research. However, they remain absent from the academic literature, despite the evident synergies between autistic strengths and academic careers. This study explored the perceptions of 37 autistic academics from various disciplines: what are the positives of working in academia for autistic people, and what are the negatives? Participants reported many positive aspects of an academic career, including the fit with the strengths, characteristics and motivations of autistic people. However, they also noted barriers and challenges – social, environmental and structural – many of which could be addressed by greater awareness and acceptance of autism. Given the considerable benefits that autistic teachers and researchers bring to higher education, there is a clear need for universities and colleges to implement changes to the physical and social environment to make academia more inclusive. Lay Abstract Academia appears to provide an ideal career option for autistic people: the opportunity to lock ourselves away in an ivory tower and utilise our extensive knowledge of a very specific topic. We know autistic people are underrepresented in postsecondary education, and there is a growing body of research on how to make universities more inclusive. What is missing from the literature is the voices of autistic people who have survived the university experience and gone on to become university teachers and researchers. Increasing the visibility of autistics in academia, and exploring the barriers and facilitators they experience in an academic career, is important to raise the aspirations of future university students and graduates. This study included 37 autistic academics from various disciplines and countries, exploring their perceptions of the positive and negative aspects of being an autistic in academia.

Bibliography cited by this reference

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

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 11:55.

Cited references
31
With a DOI
30
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
1
5 / 31 (16.1%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
1 / 31 (3.2%)
References with detected author names
31 / 31 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
Without a structured title
1
Without a stable identifier
1
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
109
From DOI or external metadata
109
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
57 / 109 (52.3%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 52 / 109 (47.7%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
16 / 109 (14.7%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 16 / 57 (28.1%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 14 / 100 (14.0%).
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