Autistic Students' Experiences of Employment and Employability Support while Studying at a UK University

Studying at a university can provide students with better opportunities of employment. However, autistic people are more likely to be unemployed after graduating than their non-autistic peers. Many university programs include integral internships/placements that require students to engage with the world of work including recruitment and selection processes. While it is known that autistic people often face difficulties in workplace settings generally, this study sought to explore how autistic students at a high-ranking UK university experienced work and employment processes and settings.

We collected the reflections of 12 autistic students, who had been engaging with work and employment processes and work organizational settings during their time as university students, via an in-depth qualitative survey comprising 25 questions. This provided data that, via analysis, offer a composite subjective voice for autistic people receiving disability support services provided by universities.

We identified four key themes. First, the reflections of these autistic students revealed a confident awareness of skills/talents that their autism enabled them to offer to employers. Second, the analysis revealed that the support offered by the university to provide employability support to autistic students was bureaucratically structured such that it might be experienced as unhelpfully fractured. Third, autistic students often felt that support while working away from the university campus (e.g., on an internship/placement) was somewhat deficient. Fourth, the data revealed that autistic students can clearly articulate the deficiencies of the support provided to them and how those deficiencies might be addressed to enhance their employability skills and, by extension, their opportunities for success in the labor market.

Autistic students would benefit from their universities adopting a more holistic approach to supporting them by engaging with (potential) employers and coworkers. Specifically, there is a need for university disability support workers to develop their knowledge and skills in careers and employability matters. They should aim to develop these to a level similar to that of university careers support workers. There is also a need for autistic students to be better supported while away from campus at a work placement.

Autistic people often face discrimination in the workplace. More autistic people are going to university and may study on a program that has a work internship built in, requiring them to compete in recruitment and selection processes that are known to be problematic for many autistic people. While universities offer support to autistic students, it is not well known how that support is experienced in relation to employability skills development and while working as an intern.

The study aimed to present the experiences of autistic students of applying for work, including internships, and working. It also aimed to present what autistic students thought about their future careers. Another purpose of the study was to provide recommendations to universities on providing support to autistic students on employability and employment.

We developed an in-depth survey of 25 questions and distributed it to all autistic students receiving disability support at a UK university. Twelve autistic students responded, providing a set of authentic testimonies about employability skills development, employment experiences, support received, and support they would have liked to have received.

The autistic students reported confidence in the skills and talents they could offer an organization. The autistic students also reported that the employment and employability support provided by the University was often unhelpfully fragmented. This was because different support teams provided different types of support. Autistic students also felt that support was somewhat deficient when they were working as interns away from their university campus. The autistic students clearly articulated how support might be better provided for them by the university. For example, they might receive specific support with preparing for a job interview as an autistic person, and might receive good advice on managing anxieties in the workplace.

While previous research has shown that autistic students typically benefit from having a single point of support at university, this study highlights that this is particularly important when it comes to support when seeking employment and when in employment as a student, particularly when working away from campus.

Our study is limited to autistic students from just one high-ranking and high-tariff university in the United Kingdom. As such, they may not be entirely representative of students at other universities and in other countries with different disability support systems and employment protections for autistic people.

The findings will help universities to improve their disability support service for autistic students. The findings point to a need for universities to adopt a more holistic service, more focused on the individual employment and employability needs of the autistic student. By adopting recommendations to better support autistic students seeking work and in work, autistic students will more likely find suitable and fulfilling employment when they leave university.