The lived experiences of primary and secondary education for autistic university students

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Ward, M. & Powell, L. (2025). The lived experiences of primary and secondary education for autistic university students. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 30(4), 732-748. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2025.2490596

Publication date: 11 Apr 2025 Added to AutiHub: 9 Aug 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
2
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 2 (50.0%)
  1. Martha Ward
  2. Lauren Powell *

Abstract

Policy calls for inclusive practices to facilitate the integration of diverse autistic school students into mainstream education. This poses challenges for teachers and autistic students and retrospective accounts can make sense of the experiences of autistic. This study explored experiences of mainstream education in six autistic university students through semi-structured interviews facilitated by images chosen by participants. Three themes and four subthemes were identified through thematic analysis of the data: 1) Inaccessibility; 2) Support (Subthemes: Supportive Teachers; Inadequate Support Provision) and 3) Challenging Peer Relationships (Subthemes: Social Interaction Challenges; Isolation and Difference). Recommendations for improving inclusive support provision for autistic students in mainstream education included appropriate support and training for teachers, reasonable adjustments to the physical environment and inclusion of lived experiences when developing related future policies. Future research should consider a multi-informant approach and other groups such as those who do not progress to higher education for a more holistic understanding of the inclusion of autistic students in mainstream education.

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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
52
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
3 / 52 (5.8%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
4 / 124 (3.2%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 4 / 28 (14.3%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 4 / 116 (3.4%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
28 / 124 (22.6%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 25 / 116 (21.6%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
24 / 28 (85.7%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 24 / 124 (19.4%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 21 / 25 (84.0%).
1 cited bibliography entry could not be fully enriched from DOI metadata.
Crossref: not found (1)
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