Accommodation through personalisation: ensuring the autistic student has an equal opportunity for success in the PhD viva voce

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. two authors of this publication are identified as autistic in the project.

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Sandland, B., MacLeod, A., Hall, M. N., & Chown, N. (2023). Accommodation through personalisation: ensuring the autistic student has an equal opportunity for success in the PhD viva voce. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 47(10), 1404-1419. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877x.2023.2250740

Publication date: 7 Sep 2023 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
4
Publication authors identified as autistic
2 / 4 (50.0%)
  1. Barbara Sandland *
  2. Andrea MacLeod
  3. Mr Neil Hall
  4. Nicholas Chown *

Abstract

Despite the viva being an essential component of all PhD and other doctoral qualifications in UK universities, there is little research into their accessibility for autistic students, or the process of adjusting them to individual students' needs. Autistic student voices about the viva are almost completely absent from the literature. This paper is the first to employ a collaborative, ethnographical case study to explore the doctoral viva voce experience of an autistic student, directly from their perspective and from the perspectives of non-autistic academics central to the process. The experiences we share highlight the limitations of 'reasonable accommodation' plans, if they offer only generic support based on a diagnostic label, rather than taking account of the individual needs, and the importance of recognising the unique role that the viva voce holds within doctoral studies. We present a 'reasonable accommodations' discussion document, to facilitate autistic student-centred discussions and ensure the viva process is fair and accessible. We further assert that accommodations should be formally noted within the examination report as to their use and impact.

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 08:00.

Cited references
68
With a DOI
41
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
24
8 / 68 (11.8%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
5 / 68 (7.4%)
References with detected author names
63 / 68 (92.6%)
Without detected author names
5
Without a structured title
5
Without a stable identifier
17
References with raw author names still to review
5
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
141
From DOI or external metadata
141
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
5
61 / 141 (43.3%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 80 / 141 (56.7%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
9 / 141 (6.4%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 9 / 61 (14.8%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 6 / 133 (4.5%).
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