Towards ‘A Level Playing Field’: A Participatory Study of Autistic University Students’ Experiences with Academic Support in England

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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Dexter, S., Umagami, K., Quinnell, S. L., Surrey, A., & Crane, L. (2024). Towards ‘A Level Playing Field’: A Participatory Study of Autistic University Students’ Experiences with Academic Support in England. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 72(1), 26-41. https://doi.org/10.1080/1034912x.2024.2317475

Publication date: 23 Feb 2024 Added to AutiHub: 14 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
5
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 5 (20.0%)
  1. Sam Dexter
  2. Kana Umagami *
  3. Sarah-Louise Quinnell
  4. Alice Surrey
  5. Laura Crane

Abstract

It is a university’s responsibility to ensure their autistic students are supported academically. While current research gives us an indication of how universities provide this support, it reveals very little about the experiences that autistic students themselves have with such support. In this research, we took a participatory approach, via a collaboration between autistic and non-autistic staff and students, to examine the experiences that autistic students have with their academic support. Twenty-eight autistic students from across England completed an online survey, and content analysis of this data found that mentoring and changes to exam arrangements were the two most commonly reported supports. Nine autistic students from one English university then took part in the semi-structured interviews and, through reflexive thematic analysis of the data, three themes were generated. First, that students appreciate their academic supports; second that support is very dependent on staff involvement; and third that responsibility for academic support falls on the student. These findings demonstrate the academic supports that autistic students consider effective, as well as where they feel barriers still exist that prevents them from fully accessing their support.

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: 19 Sep 2026 23:31.

Cited references
45
With a DOI
41
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
4
9 / 45 (20.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
2 / 45 (4.4%)
References with detected author names
43 / 45 (95.6%)
Without detected author names
2
Without a structured title
1
Without a stable identifier
3
References with raw author names still to review
1
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
138
From DOI or external metadata
138
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
1
69 / 138 (50.0%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 69 / 138 (50.0%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
20 / 138 (14.5%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 20 / 69 (29.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 15 / 120 (12.5%).
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