Is disclosing an autism spectrum disorder in school associated with reduced stigmatization?

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

About the autistic author marker

White, R., Barreto, M., Harrington, J., Kapp, S. K., Hayes, J., & Russell, G. (2019). Is disclosing an autism spectrum disorder in school associated with reduced stigmatization? Autism, 24(3), 744-754. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361319887625

Publication date: 27 Nov 2019 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
6
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 6 (16.7%)

Abstract

Evidence suggests disclosing an autism diagnosis is associated with reduced stigmatization for autistic adults. However, it is unknown whether this is true for autistic adolescents. We used a vignette-and-questionnaire design to study stigmatizing attitudes with adolescents (aged 11–12 and 14–16 years, total N = 250) in a UK school. We investigated the effect of disclosing that a fictional adolescent had an autism diagnosis on stigmatizing attitudes of peers by testing the effect of disclosure of diagnosis on the social and emotional distance pupils wanted to maintain from the autistic adolescent. We also tested the effect of disclosure on peers’ assessment of the adolescent’s responsibility for their own behaviour. We checked to see if the effects were moderated by gender and age-group. Disclosing autism did not affect the social and emotional distance peers wanted to maintain from the autistic adolescent, but was associated with significant reduction in personal responsibility attributed to the adolescent’s behaviour. Boys attributed more personal responsibility to the autistic adolescent than girls, but this gender effect was reduced when autism was disclosed. These findings suggest that disclosing autism to other pupils may be of limited use in reducing stigmatization by peers in UK schools.

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 08:03.

Cited references
64
With a DOI
58
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
5
5 / 64 (7.8%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
0 / 64 (0.0%)
References with detected author names
64 / 64 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
5
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
163
From DOI or external metadata
163
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
41 / 163 (25.2%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 122 / 163 (74.8%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
5 / 163 (3.1%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 5 / 41 (12.2%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 3 / 144 (2.1%).
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