“I Saw Things through a Different Lens…”: An Interpretative Phenomenological Study of the Experiences of Autistic Teachers in the Irish Education System

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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O’Neill, C. & Kenny, N. (2023). “I Saw Things through a Different Lens…”: An Interpretative Phenomenological Study of the Experiences of Autistic Teachers in the Irish Education System. Education Sciences, 13(7), 670. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13070670

Publication date: 30 Jun 2023 Added to AutiHub: 24 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
2
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 2 (50.0%)
  1. Claire O’Neill *
  2. Neil Kenny

Abstract

This Autistic-led phenomenological qualitative study explores the experiences of Autistic Teachers in the Irish Education system. While autism has received attention in Irish educational research, it is notable that Autistic teachers are under-researched. This study was conducted by an Autistic teacher-researcher and used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to design and conduct semi-structured interviews with four Autistic teachers to address this significant gap in the literature. In the findings, participants described strengths including using monotropism advantageously in their teaching and the ability to form strong and empathetic relationships with their pupils. Experiences with colleagues were often influenced by a lack of autism-related understanding and sometimes stigma and negative biases. The physical, sensory, and organisational environments of schools had an overall negative impact on participants’ experiences. Recommendations resulting from the study include a need to increase whole school knowledge of autism and to encourage neurodivergent-friendly environments. The findings suggest that increased awareness is needed across the Irish education system including initial teacher education (ITE), professional development (PD), and support services. What support to provide, how to provide it, and to whom provide support to are areas for future study emerging from the research. Findings have implications for future practice, policy, and research.

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 02:39.

Cited references
78
With a DOI
55
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
22
21 / 78 (26.9%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
17 / 78 (21.8%)
References with detected author names
61 / 78 (78.2%)
Without detected author names
17
Without a structured title
17
Without a stable identifier
20
References with raw author names still to review
17
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
172
From DOI or external metadata
172
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
28
112 / 172 (65.1%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 60 / 172 (34.9%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
37 / 172 (21.5%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 37 / 112 (33.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 27 / 145 (18.6%).
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