Edited by Kate Blackham, Tuesday, 7 Nov 2023, 11:29
I looked at the HESA statistics for disabilities in 2021/2022 today. There are just 305 autistic academics. This is up from the 175 autistic academics reported in the previous HESA report. There are 233,930 academics in the UK. That means autistics make up just 0.13% of academics. The WHO reports that 1% of the population is autistic. That is not proportional representation by any means.
I had a discussion with an individual on LinkedIn recently - they applauded my 'impressive' bravery at being open about my diagnosis (I put #ActuallyAutistic in my LinkedIn headline), since they didn't feel comfortable to do so. Working as I do at the university of second chances and having learned about tutor presence and transparency I kind of feel like it's my duty to be that honest. While the percentage of autistic academics doesn't even remotely reflect either the proportion of autistic students or the ideals of equality, diversity and inclusion for disabled people I feel obligated to own up and say 'I don't know where the rest of us went, but I'm here'. While we exclude autistics from academia, we send autistic students the message that 'you don't belong here, we don't want you.' And I refuse to accept that.
HESA and #ActuallyAutistic
I looked at the HESA statistics for disabilities in 2021/2022 today. There are just 305 autistic academics. This is up from the 175 autistic academics reported in the previous HESA report. There are 233,930 academics in the UK. That means autistics make up just 0.13% of academics. The WHO reports that 1% of the population is autistic. That is not proportional representation by any means.
I had a discussion with an individual on LinkedIn recently - they applauded my 'impressive' bravery at being open about my diagnosis (I put #ActuallyAutistic in my LinkedIn headline), since they didn't feel comfortable to do so. Working as I do at the university of second chances and having learned about tutor presence and transparency I kind of feel like it's my duty to be that honest. While the percentage of autistic academics doesn't even remotely reflect either the proportion of autistic students or the ideals of equality, diversity and inclusion for disabled people I feel obligated to own up and say 'I don't know where the rest of us went, but I'm here'. While we exclude autistics from academia, we send autistic students the message that 'you don't belong here, we don't want you.' And I refuse to accept that.