Autoethnography on Autistic Agency: An Autistic-Led and Autistic-Driven Transition Process to Full-Time Academia

Authors

Abstract

Stigma and the absence of disability-informed systems and policies prevent autistic employees' success in a variety of workplaces. While studies have examined diverse organizational cultures and environments for support of autistic workers, in higher education, autism scholarship has focused almost exclusively on students and disability culture on college campuses. Autistic faculty perspectives have been infrequently examined, providing little understanding of their experiences and needs on campus. Lack of support for autistic faculty on campus further reduces the available representation and support for autistic students. The purpose of this autoethnography was to critically examine the institutional entry and socialization of the author as a new autistic faculty member into a full-time academic position. Specifically, it focused on efforts to build an inclusive community partnership with non-autistic colleagues and facilitate agentic action to support the author's transition to the academic workplace. This study included the use of the autistic-informed Person-In-Context tool to determine its potential support in this environment. This autoethnography was conducted via a reflective journal completed by the author, a new autistic faculty member, during their first term employed full-time in an academic institution. The journal and completed PIC tool were analyzed and coded for themes guided by theoretical frameworks of agency. Five primary themes were identified: (a) stigma, (b) relationships, (c) support needs, (d) collective agency, and (e) self-knowledge. These five themes create an interactive, environmental model of autistic agency in the academic workplace. These key findings imply that the use of autistic-informed tools to address autistic support needs in the academic workplace environment has the potential to result in the development of authentic relationships, connections to collective agency within the autistic community, and greater self-knowledge. When autistic support needs are addressed in this manner, these themes interact to foster agency and authentic inclusion, which are important protective factors for autistic faculty working within the existing stigma, exclusivity, and ableism inherent to an academic workplace environment. This study's findings emphasize the importance of universal accommodations in the academic workplace and their potential role in facilitating access to agency for the diverse population of autistic faculty. Additionally, this study affirms the necessity of centering autistic people in identification, creation, and implementation of their own supports, specifically in the academic workplace environment. Furthermore, autistic-informed universal accommodations may have the potential to reduce the burden placed on new autistic faculty to anticipate and communicate fully their support needs that they may not have encountered yet in the academic workplace environment.

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