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

在过去的三年里，我一直与来自不同背景的自闭症儿童一起工作。根据我的经验，重要的是，教育系统不断地使任何非白色的自闭症学生处于不利地位，由于自闭症是什么以及它如何呈现的想法主要集中在白色，中产阶级男孩（Silberman，2016）。白人在自闭症知识中的中心地位无疑导致了黑人自闭症患者被误诊，后来被诊断出来（Durkin等人，2017年），并成为交叉暴力暴行的受害者（Aspler等人，2022年）。对于任何不符合白色，顺性别，男性刻板印象的自闭症患者来说，似乎都有一个重要的可见性和理解的斗争（Rozsa，2017）。对能力主义的新定义集中在它是一个深深植根于白色至上的系统的方式上;社会构建的正常、智力和健康的观念与优生学和反黑人有着千丝万缕的联系（刘易斯，2022）。因此，在研究黑人自闭症患者的生活经历时，了解残疾人歧视和种族主义是如何作为一个环环相扣的压迫系统发挥作用的是至关重要的。黑人残疾学生的边缘化在小学和中学都有很好的记录（Annamma，2015）。然而，由于缺乏统计数据，对高等教育中的这一学生群体知之甚少。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，货车希斯等人，2015年），确定有关学术支持，心理健康和社会包容的各种挑战。然而，这些研究主要依赖于白色样本，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性的断言。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），这通常归因于精英统治幌子下的性格缺陷的内部方面（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（Institutional racism）。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年参与者（Frost等人，2019; Shattuck等人，2014）。因此，采用交叉性作为理论工具至关重要。我们需要通过一个包含种族的透镜来检查自闭症，以便更深入地了解占据多个少数民族身份的干扰效应（Annamma et al.，2013; Cho等人，2013).黑人孤独症患者的边缘化是独特的，与白色孤独症患者和黑人神经正常人群截然不同。随着神经多样性运动的日益突出，以及越来越多的关注反种族主义和社会正义的研究在学院，我相信黑人，自闭症成年人已被排除在讨论之外。种族/文化和自闭症之间的相互关系在自闭症和高等教育研究中往往没有得到充分的承认-两者都是身份的重要和相互关联的方面，将影响学生接受高等教育的方式。我想调查高等教育机构中种族化的能力主义的结构性力量，以便能够照亮黑人自闭症学生的经历，声音和需求，并展示他们认为需要的变化，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.