Black AND autistic: investigating the impact of intersectional identities on higher education outcomes

在过去的三年里，我一直在治疗来自不同背景的自闭症儿童。对我的经验来说，重要的是意识到教育系统不断地使任何非白人自闭症学生处于不利地位，因为对自闭症是什么以及它如何表现的看法主要以白人中产阶级男孩为中心（Silberman, 2016）。白人在自闭症知识中的中心地位无疑导致黑人自闭症患者被误诊，诊断较晚（Durkin et al., 2017），并成为交叉暴力的残忍受害者（Aspler et al., 2022）。对于任何不符合白人、顺性、男性刻板印象的自闭症患者来说，他们似乎都要付出巨大的努力才能获得关注和理解（Rozsa, 2017）。对残疾歧视的最新定义侧重于它是一个深深植根于白人至上主义的制度；社会建构的正常、智力和健康的观念与优生学和反黑人有着密不可分的联系（Lewis, 2022）。因此，在研究黑人自闭症患者的生活经历时，理解残疾歧视和种族主义是如何作为相互关联的压迫系统发挥作用的，是至关重要的。在小学和中学阶段，黑人残疾学生被边缘化的情况有很好的记录（Annamma, 2015）。然而，由于缺乏统计数据，人们对高等教育中的学生人数知之甚少。对高等教育中自闭症学生的社会、学术和个人经历进行了广泛的研究（例如，Van Hees等人，2015），确定了与学术支持、心理健康和社会包容相关的各种挑战。然而，这些研究主要依赖于白人样本，这就引出了一个问题，即我们如何根据只包括一个种族和文化人口统计的研究，对自闭症大学生的需求做出概括的断言。研究表明，高等教育中的黑人学生经历了各种教育不平等和劣势（Gillborn, 2008），这通常归因于精英政治幌子下的内在性格缺陷（Fakile, 2021），而不是承认更广泛的系统性和结构性不平等（例如，制度性种族主义）在起作用。我们对英国和国际高等教育机构中黑人自闭症学生的经历知之甚少，只有少数研究包括黑人自闭症成人参与者（Frost et al., 2019; shatuck et al., 2014）。因此，采用交叉性作为理论工具是至关重要的。我们需要通过包含种族的视角来审视自闭症，以便更深入地了解占据多个少数群体身份的相互作用（Annamma et al., 2013; Cho et al., 2013）。黑人自闭症患者的边缘化是独特的，与白人、自闭症患者和黑人神经正常人群的边缘化是不同的。随着神经多样性运动的日益突出，以及学术界对反种族主义和社会正义研究的日益关注，我相信黑人自闭症成年人已经被排除在讨论之外。在自闭症和高等教育研究中，种族/文化和自闭症之间的相互关系往往没有得到充分的承认——这两者都是身份认同的重要和相互联系的方面，将影响学生驾驭高等教育的方式。我想调查高等教育机构中种族化的残疾歧视的结构性力量，以便能够阐明黑人自闭症学生的经历、声音和需求，并展示他们认为需要做出的改变，以获得平等的成功机会。

I have spent the past three years working with autistic children from diverse backgrounds. Significant to my experience, was the realisation of the way the education system continually disadvantages any autistic student who is not white, due to ideas of what autism is and how it presents being predominantly centred around white, middle-class boys (Silberman, 2016). The centrality of whiteness in autism knowledge has undoubtedly contributed to black, autistic people being misdiagnosed, diagnosed later (Durkin et al., 2017), and being victims of the brutality of intersectional violence (Aspler et al., 2022). There appears to be a significant struggle for visibility and understanding for any autistic person who doesn't fit the white, cisgender, male stereotype (Rozsa, 2017). Newer definitions of ableism focus on the way it is a system deeply rooted in white supremacy; socially constructed ideas of normalcy, intelligence and fitness are inextricably connected to eugenics and anti-blackness (Lewis, 2022). Therefore, it is of the upmost importance to understand how ableism and racism work as interlocking systems of oppression when examining the lived experiences of black, autistic people.The marginalisation of black, disabled students is well documented in primary and secondary school years (Annamma, 2015). However, much less is known about this student population within higher education, reflected in the absence of statistics. There has been extensive research on the social, academic, and personal experiences of autistic students in higher education (e.g., Van Hees et al., 2015), identifying various challenges relating to academic support, mental wellbeing, and social inclusion. However, such studies have relied on predominantly white samples which begs the question of how we can make generalised assertions about the needs of autistic university students based on research that only includes one racial and cultural demographic. Research shows that black students in higher education experience various educational inequities and disadvantages (Gillborn, 2008), which are often attributed to internal aspects of character flaw under the guise of meritocracy (Fakile, 2021), rather than acknowledging the wider systemic and structural inequalities (e.g., institutional racism) at play. We know relatively little about the experiences of black, autistic students in higher education institutions in the UK and internationally, with only few studies including black, autistic adult participants (Frost et al., 2019; Shattuck et al., 2014). Adopting intersectionality as a theoretical tool is therefore vital. We need to examine autism through a lens that encompasses race in order to gain a deeper understanding of the interactional effects of occupying more than one minoritised identity (Annamma et al., 2013; Cho et al., 2013).The marginalisation of black, autistic people is unique and distinct from that of both white, autistic people, and black neurotypical people. With the neurodiversity movement gaining prominence, as well as an increased focus on anti-racist and social justice research in the academy, I believe black, autistic adults have been left out of the discussion. The interrelationship between race/culture and autism is often not adequately acknowledged in autism and higher education research - both are important and interconnecting aspects of identity that will influence the way students navigate higher education. I want to investigate the structural power of racialised ableism in higher education institutions to be able to illuminate the experiences, voices, and needs of black autistic students and showcase the changes they believe are needed for them to get equal opportunities at success.