Abstract
This study examined whether telling peers about a pupil’s diagnosis of autism at school made a difference to their reactions to them. Others have studied this topic, but it is unclear whether disclosing or withholding an autism diagnosis is best in school. Our study tested the effect of disclosing an autism diagnosis on how much distance adolescent pupils wanted to keep socially, and how much they felt the autistic pupil was responsible for their own behaviour. Our study was the first we know of to look at this in a UK school. We found disclosing an autism diagnosis did not make adolescents more willing to interact or spend time with or feel more positively towards the autistic pupil. Disclosing did reduce how much others thought the autistic pupil was responsible for their own behaviour. Based on our findings, although we can’t recommend disclosing an autism diagnosis as essential to help autistic pupils, neither can we say it’s something to avoid.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 744-754 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Autism |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 27 Nov 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Apr 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This study examined whether telling peers about a pupil’s diagnosis of autism at school made a difference to their reactions to them. Others have studied this topic, but it is unclear whether disclosing or withholding an autism diagnosis is best in school. Our study tested the effect of disclosing an autism diagnosis on how much distance adolescent pupils wanted to keep socially, and how much they felt the autistic pupil was responsible for their own behaviour. Our study was the first we know of to look at this in a UK school. We found disclosing an autism diagnosis did not make adolescents more willing to interact or spend time with or feel more positively towards the autistic pupil. Disclosing did reduce how much others thought the autistic pupil was responsible for their own behaviour. Based on our findings, although we can’t recommend disclosing an autism diagnosis as essential to help autistic pupils, neither can we say it’s something to avoid. adolescents autism spectrum disorder disclosure school-age children stigma Wellcome Trust https://doi.org/10.13039/100004440 108676/Z/15/Z edited-state corrected-proof The authors thank Lindsay Harrington of Pudsey Grangefield School for her help in developing materials used in this project. Declaration of conflicting interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article. Funding The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (grant ref. 108676/Z/15/Z). The funders had no role in development of the work. ORCID iDs Rhianna White https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0636-7308 Ginny Russell https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6440-1167 Supplemental material Supplemental material for this article is available online.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2019.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords
- adolescents
- autism spectrum disorder
- disclosure
- school-age children
- stigma
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Developmental and Educational Psychology