How Liberal Arts College Websites in the US Are (or Are Not) Discussing Autism

Eileen T. Crehan (), Anna Phillips, Anh Ngo, Abigail Donaghue, Natalie Bartlett, Daniella Rothstein and Simone R. Dufresne
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Eileen T. Crehan: Eunice K. Shriver Center, Department of Pediatrics, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA
Anna Phillips: Department of Psychology, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA 23173, USA
Anh Ngo: Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study & Human Development, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA
Abigail Donaghue: Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study & Human Development, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA
Natalie Bartlett: Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study & Human Development, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA
Daniella Rothstein: Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study & Human Development, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA
Simone R. Dufresne: Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study & Human Development, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA

Disabilities, 2025, vol. 5, issue 4, 1-11

Abstract: College websites are a primary source of information for prospective students. As increasing numbers of autistic students head to college, we wanted to capture whether and how college websites were presenting themselves as autism-friendly or autism-aware environments. This is a descriptive study of how college websites from liberal arts institutions in the U.S. talk about autism. The top 50 liberal arts schools, as ranked by the US World and News Report from 2023, were searched for the following terms: “autism”, “autistic”, “ASD”, “neurodiversity”, “neurodivergent”, and “neurodivergence.” Five website areas where these terms may appear, or where prospective students may look for them, were identified: admissions, accessibility, counseling/mental health, faculty resources, and student life. Overall, the occurrence of any searched terms was extremely low across all areas. This lack of terminology representation likely reflects the reality of autism-related services on these campuses. On some websites, mentions of autism did not reflect a deeper cultural understanding of the term. The lack of representation of and information about autism and neurodiversity on college websites should be a call to these types of institutions that there are a number of students whose identities are not being recognized by these academic spaces.

Keywords: autism; neurodiversity; college; liberal arts; admissions; postsecondary (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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