Unmaking the Ableist University: Autistic College Students and the Call to Reimagine Higher Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 11:45 am - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: Division J Section 6: Roundtable 5

Abstract

This paper examines how ableism in higher education, rooted in a eugenic legacy, marginalizes autistic college students by reinforcing medical models of disability that pathologize autism and invalidate neurodivergent experiences. Drawing on the neurodiversity paradigm and the social model of disability, the paper challenges dominant narratives that frame autism as an individual deficit rather than a social and institutional issue. It critiques existing research for overlooking how systemic barriers shape autistic students’ experiences. The final section deepens this analysis by exposing how institutional structures and academic norms actively construct disabling conditions—compelling autistic students to conform, mask their identities, and ultimately render themselves invisible. The paper calls for systemic change and reimagines higher education as a space of belonging.

Author

• Yasmine Pandjaitan, University of California - Santa Cruz