"I Need Some Space": How Autistic Community College Students Learn About and Practice Self-Advocacy

• In Event: Complicating Understandings of Minoritized College Student Populations

Abstract

Using Test and colleagues' (2005) four factors of self-advocacy as a guiding framework, this qualitative case study situated within a community college autism transition program examines how the program influences autistic students’ development of self-advocacy skills. In particular, the study works to understand how these autistic college students attain, interpret, and practice self-advocacy skills. Findings reveal the iterative nature of gaining self-advocacy, as it requires students to learn about their identities and rights, determine ways to communicate their needs, and engage in agentic behaviors that serve themselves and peers.

Author

• Brett R. Nachman, North Carolina State University