Supporting autistic students through university using a collaborative participatory research approach

越来越多的自闭症患者正在接受高等教育。过去几年出现了关于了解他们的经历和支持需求的研究，但很少有研究涉及多个利益攸关方（如高等教育人员、辅导员）和跨越国家的研究。这种大规模的研究对于理解普遍与特定文化的经历、机遇、挑战和支持需求是必要的，这将使政策制定者和支持提供者能够根据每种社会文化环境提供相关的支持。目前的项目提出了上述的合作参与式研究，自闭症和非自闭症学生在整个项目中的参与将确保所提出的措施是相关的、有用的和可实施的。方法与设计设计两种调查工具，分别确定自闭症学生的支持需求和非自闭症学生的学习需求。自闭症和非自闭症学者、学生、残疾和保健服务提供者将通过视频通话讨论这些仪器的设计，研究小组将为此提供便利。讨论将围绕评估和改进现有的支持和/或开发新的支持，确定提供支持的障碍和促进因素，以及策划减少耻辱和提高高等教育包容性的想法。在分发给相关的目标受众之前，将对文书进行验证。研究结果将为更广泛（如全国范围）和更狭窄、更具体（如某所大学内）的政策和支持提供信息。因此，该项目是多方利益相关者合作努力的重要第一步，旨在使高等教育系统在全球范围内更具包容性。

Autistic people are entering higher education in increasing numbers. Research on understanding theirexperiences and support needs has emerged in the last few years, but few studies have involvedmultiple stakeholders (e.g. higher education staff, counsellors) and spanned across countries. Such largescaleresearch is necessary to understand universal versus culture-specific experiences, opportunities,challenges, and support needs, which would enable policy-makers and support-providers to makerelevant supports available according to each sociocultural setting. The present project proposes theexact abovementioned collaborative participatory research, and the involvement of autistic and nonautisticstudents throughout the project would ensure that proposed measures are relevant, useful, andimplementable.Methods & DesignTwo survey instruments will be designed, to separately identify support needs of autistic students andlearning needs of non-autistic students. Autistic and non-autistic academics, students, and disability andhealth service providers would discuss the design of the instruments via video calls which would befacilitated by the research team. Discussions would center around evaluating and improving existingsupports and/or developing new ones, identifying barriers and facilitators to providing supports, andcurating ideas to reduce stigma and improve inclusivity in higher education.Instruments will be validated before being disseminated to their relevant target audiences. Studyfindings would inform policies and supports both at a broader (e.g. country-wide) level and a narrower,more specific level (e.g. within a particular university). The project is thus an important first step towardsa multi-stakeholder collaborative effort in making higher education systems more inclusive on a globalscale.