Abandonner et aller de l’avant : une étude qualitative des expériences universitaires de personnes autistes

Titre original en anglais : Dropping out and moving on: A qualitative study of autistic people’s experiences of university

Cage, E. & Howes, J. (2020). Dropping out and moving on: A qualitative study of autistic people’s experiences of university. Autism, 24(7), 1664-1675. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361320918750

Date de publication: 31/05/2020 Ajout dans AutiHub: 22/08/2026 Type: Article Langue de l’article: Anglais

Cette publication est intégrée dans AutiHub via :

Auteurs

Auteur·ices des publications
2
Auteur·ices de la publication identifié·es comme autistes
1 / 2 (50,0 %)

Résumé

Les personnes autistes présentent un risque élevé d’abandonner l’université, mais peu de recherches ont examiné cette question. Quatorze personnes autistes ont participé à des entretiens semi-structurés portant sur leurs expériences à l’université et les raisons pour lesquelles elles avaient abandonné. Une analyse thématique a identifié des tendances dans les réponses des participants. Les thèmes ont été classés en problèmes systémiques, difficultés au sein de l’université ou vie après l’abandon. Les problèmes systémiques portaient principalement sur l’accès au diagnostic, la compréhension de l’autisme, la santé mentale et le statut d’étranger. Les difficultés à l’université comprenaient le choc culturel, le désengagement, le manque de soutien proactif et le caractère perçu comme inévitable de l’abandon. Enfin, la vie après l’abandon se caractérisait par le traitement du traumatisme et de la honte, ainsi que par la prise de conscience de faire « ce qui est bon pour soi ». Ensemble, ces thèmes suggèrent que de nombreuses améliorations pourraient être apportées dans les universités, telles qu’un soutien plus proactif et la création d’environnements plus accessibles. Un changement à l’échelle de la société est également nécessaire pour améliorer les possibilités d’éducation des personnes autistes. Résumé grand public De nombreuses personnes autistes vont désormais à l’université, mais beaucoup d’entre elles abandonnent également leurs études. En fait, on estime que les personnes autistes courent un risque plus élevé d’abandonner, mais peu de recherches ont été menées pour comprendre pourquoi cela se produit. Cette recherche a utilisé des entretiens afin d’examiner en profondeur les expériences d’abandon de l’université de 14 personnes autistes. Tous les éléments dont les participants ont parlé ont été examinés de près par les chercheurs, qui ont identifié des thèmes communs dans ce que les participants ont évoqué. Le premier ensemble de thèmes a rendu compte de certaines difficultés générales auxquelles sont confrontées les personnes autistes, telles que les difficultés à obtenir un diagnostic, le manque de compréhension de l’autisme, les difficultés de santé mentale et le sentiment d’être un étranger. Les thèmes suivants ont été organisés autour des difficultés rencontrées à l’université, notamment un sentiment de choc culturel, le désengagement de ses études, le manque de soutien proactif de la part de l’université et le sentiment que l’abandon était devenu inévitable. Enfin, certains thèmes portaient sur la vie après l’abandon, impliquant le sentiment que l’expérience universitaire avait été traumatisante et honteuse, mais aussi la conviction que les personnes devaient faire ce qui était bon pour elles. Tous ces thèmes suggèrent que les universités doivent mieux soutenir les personnes autistes lorsqu’elles arrivent pour la première fois à l’université, qu’elles devraient offrir activement un soutien clair tout au long de leur parcours et s’efforcer de rendre l’environnement universitaire plus accessible à tous, afin de garantir qu’un plus grand nombre de personnes autistes aient une expérience universitaire positive.

Autistic people are at high risk of dropping out of university, but little research has examined this issue. Fourteen autistic people participated in semi-structured interviews examining their experiences at university and the reasons they had dropped out. Thematic analysis identified patterns in participants’ responses. Themes were categorised as systemic issues, challenges within university or life after dropping out. Systemic issues centred around accessing diagnosis, autism understanding, mental health and outsider status. Challenges at university included culture shock, becoming disengaged, lack of proactive support and perceived inevitability of dropping out. Finally, life after dropping out was characterised by processing of trauma and shame, and realisation of doing ‘what’s right for you’. Together, these themes suggest that many improvements could be made at universities, such as more proactive support and creating more accessible environments. Societal-level change is also needed to improve educational opportunities for autistic people. Lay abstract Many autistic people now go to university, but many of them also drop out of their studies. In fact, it is believed that autistic people are at higher risk of dropping out, but little research has been done to understand why this is happening. This research used interviews to take an in-depth look at 14 autistic people’s experiences of dropping out of university. All the things the participants talked about were examined closely by the researchers who identified common themes in what the participants discussed. The first set of themes captured some overarching issues faced by autistic people, such as difficulties with getting diagnosed, a lack of autism understanding, mental health challenges and feeling like an outsider. The next themes were organised within challenges faced at university, including a feeling of culture shock, becoming disengaged from one’s studies, a lack of proactive support from their university and a feeling that dropping out became inevitable. Finally, there were themes about life after dropping out, which involved a sense that the experience at university had been traumatic and shameful, but they believed people had to do what is right for them. All of these themes suggest that universities need to be better at supporting autistic people when they first come to university, and that they should actively offer clear support throughout and try and make the university environment more accessible for everyone, to ensure more autistic people have a positive university experience.

Bibliographie citée par cette référence

Les références citées sont importées depuis des sources externes de métadonnées lorsqu’elles sont disponibles. La liste peut être partielle.

Vue d’ensemble de la bibliographie citée

Ces indicateurs décrivent la bibliographie citée par cette publication. Un nom d’auteurice est compté chaque fois qu’il apparaît dans une référence citée : une même personne peut donc être comptée plusieurs fois. Les noms qui ne sont pas encore associés à un·e auteurice déjà présent·e dans AutiHub sont traités comme inconnus, pas comme non autistes. Dernier calcul : 22/08/2026 23:44.

Références citées
66
Avec un DOI
56
Sans DOI, à partir du texte brut de la bibliographie
9
4 / 66 (6,1 %) références citées comprennent au moins une personne identifiée comme autiste.
Références avec données à compléter
4 / 66 (6,1 %)
Références avec noms d’auteurices détectés
63 / 66 (95,5 %)
Sans nom d’auteurice détecté
3
Sans titre structuré
4
Sans identifiant stable
8
Références avec noms bruts d’auteurices restant à vérifier
3
Références avec problème de récupération des métadonnées externes
0
Ces indicateurs portent sur les références citées affichées sur cette page, après fusion des doublons techniques. Une référence sans DOI peut quand même soutenir les statistiques d’auteurices lorsqu’un titre et des noms d’auteurices sont disponibles.
Noms d’auteurices détectés dans la bibliographie citée
171
À partir du DOI ou de métadonnées externes
171
À partir du texte brut validé de la bibliographie
0
Noms bruts déjà validés
0
Noms bruts restant à vérifier
4
56 / 171 (32,7 %) noms sont associés à un·e auteurice déjà présent·e dans AutiHub. 115 / 171 (67,3 %) noms ne sont pas encore associés.
Noms associés à une personne identifiée comme autiste
5 / 171 (2,9 %)
Calculé sur l’ensemble des noms d’auteurices détectés dans la bibliographie citée. Parmi les noms associés à un·e auteurice déjà présent·e dans AutiHub : 5 / 56 (8,9 %). Personnes distinctes identifiées comme autistes : 4 / 163 (2,5 %).
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