Disability barriers autistic girls face in secondary education: A systematic review

Autistic adolescent girls face complex and diverse challenges in the school setting, specifically mental health issues, unmet social and education needs, and social exclusion. This review provides an overview of research relating to the barriers autistic females face in school settings by reporting on their experiences as well as those of autistic women reflecting on their past. This literature review presents peer-reviewed journal articles published from January 2013 to March 2023. Based on the 17 identified articles, the barriers girls face in the compulsory education setting centred on 4 themes of societal barriers grounded in gender; the institutional or physical barriers of schools; social and communicative expectations; and stigmatization. These results underscore the need for future research to centre diverse autistic lived experiences and knowledge, and autistic inclusion at all levels of participation, from self-advocacy and peer support spaces to the co-development of training and policy.Lay abstractAutistic adolescent girls face complex and diverse challenges in the school setting, specifically mental health issues, unmet social and education needs, and social exclusion. The purpose of this review was to provide a general idea of research relating to the experiences of autistic females in secondary school settings by reporting on their experiences and the lived experiences of autistic women reflecting on their past. Based on the identified articles, the barriers girls face in the compulsory education setting centred on four themes of societal barriers grounded in gender; the institutional or physical barriers of schools; social and communicative expectations; and stigmatization. The study highlighted that there is a need to sensitize and educate widely on the topic of autism for teachers, to support staff, school psychologists and peers of autistic youth. The results call attention to the need for future research to focus on the different lived experiences and knowledge of autistic girls.