My first three days as a first-year – The autoethnography of an autistic student

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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Gouws, E. & Wassermann, J. (2024). My first three days as a first-year – The autoethnography of an autistic student. South African Journal of Higher Education, 38(5). https://doi.org/10.20853/38-5-5758

Publication date: 1 Jan 2024 Added to AutiHub: 26 Oct 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
2
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 2 (50.0%)
  1. Emile Gouws *
  2. J. Wassermann

Abstract

My enrolment at university was a significant milestone in my life. During my first three days as a student with autism spectrum disorder, I experienced both positive and negative situations at different campuses, including overcrowded lecture halls, residences, faculty houses, and interacting with other students. My literature review and theoretical interpretation are guided by historical institutionalism and Bakhtin’s concept of “outsideness”. These frameworks address how historical events shape the social, political, and economic behaviour of institutions in a system that treats new students who must adapt to the university’s rules, regulations, and traditions as outsiders. The frameworks mentioned above were used to understand what I experienced during my first three days at university, which set the tone for the rest of my undergraduate education, punctuated by ableness, whiteness, masculinity, and fluctuating forms of support. Keywords: masculinity, ableness, whiteness, critical incidences, autism spectrum disorder, historical institutionalism, Bakhtin's concept of outsideness

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: 27 Oct 2026 01:01.

Cited references
7
With a DOI
7
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
0
0 / 7 (0.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
0 / 7 (0.0%)
References with detected author names
7 / 7 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
0
References with raw author names still to review
0
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
17
From DOI or external metadata
17
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
0 / 17 (0.0%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 17 / 17 (100.0%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
0 / 17 (0.0%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. No detected author names are currently linked to an author already present in AutiHub. Distinct people identified as autistic: 0 / 17 (0.0%).
  1. Tore Dag Bøe , Kjell Kristoffersen , Per Arne Lidbom , Gunnhild Ruud Lindvig , Jaakko Seikkula , Dagfinn Ulland et al. (2013). Change is an Ongoing Ethical Event: Levinas, Bakhtin and the Dialogical Dynamics of Becoming . Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 34(1), 18-31. Wiley.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1002/anzf.1003
    OpenCitations
  2. Valérie Van Hees , Tinneke Moyson , Herbert Roeyers (2015). Higher Education Experiences of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Challenges, Benefits and Support Needs . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(6), 1673-1688. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1007/s10803-014-2324-2 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2031696817
    OpenCitations
  3. Janet Jarvis (2021). Empathetic-Reflective-Dialogical Restorying for decolonisation: an emancipatory teaching-learning strategy for Religion Education . British Journal of Religious Education, 43(1), 68-79. Informa UK Limited.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1080/01416200.2020.1831439
    OpenCitations
  4. Herbert J. Gans (2017). Racialization and racialization research . Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(3), 341-352. Informa UK Limited.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2017.1238497
    OpenCitations
  5. S. Garnett Russell , Sandra L. Sirota , A. Kayum Ahmed (2019). Human Rights Education in South Africa: Ideological Shifts and Curricular Reforms . Comparative Education Review, 63(1), 1-27. University of Chicago Press.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1086/701100
    OpenCitations
  6. Cynthia Barounis (2009). Cripping Heterosexuality, Queering Able-Bodiedness: Murderball, Brokeback Mountain and the Contested Masculine Body . Journal of Visual Culture, 8(1), 54-75. SAGE Publications.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1177/1470412908091938
    OpenCitations
  7. Sintayehu Kassaye Alemu (2018). Meaning, Idea and History of University/Higher Education: Brief Literature Review . FIRE: Forum for International Research in Education, 4(3). Texas Tech University.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.32865/fire20184312
    OpenCitations