Students with Autism as Research Partners: Responding to Real World Trends in Society
Creators: name: Fitzgerald, Geraldine
name: Dunne, Siobhán
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019

description: In Ireland, there has been substantial progress at a policy level to support the rights of increasingly diverse groups; recent referenda on marriage equality and abortion and ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities exemplify how Irish society is changing to reflect its population’s diverse needs. As a more inclusive society, there is increased open discussion on mental wellbeing and disability. At an institutional level, “to be truly inclusive, the institutional environment must change to encourage diverse populations to thrive and to promote a sense of belonging” (Martinez-Acosta, 2015).

The focus of this paper is on a library collaboration with a ‘non-traditional’ group of students in Trinity College Dublin who have autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). ASD is a neurodevelopmental disability which is on the rise globally; average international estimates indicate that 1% of the population have the condition with US figures stating that one in sixty eight children have ASD (Van Hees, 2015). Being on the spectrum means that individuals “vary greatly in intellectual ability, extending from those with severe intellectual disabilities through to those who are intellectually gifted and talented” (Cho, 2018).

Over the past five years, the number of students with ASD registered with the Disability Service in Trinity College Dublin has increased six-fold; Trinity now has the highest number of students with ASD in Ireland. Even though much has been written on the ASD student experience in higher education there “is a dearth of scholarship on what librarians can do when working with these students” (ibid).

In this paper, we will elaborate on an innovative research approach that sought to plug this gap and describe how our collaboration resulted in a library video tool which is enhancing peer learning and encouraging greater library use.

The subjects of this research are students with intellectual disabilities (ID) on the Arts, Science and Inclusive Applied Practice (ASIAP) certificate programme. The programme’s aims are far reaching both for the student and public society by fostering and developing skills and knowledge for advocacy, scholarship and employment.

In order to be faithful to the programme aims, the Library was keen to position the student at the heart of the research experience, as both participants and co researchers. A series of focus groups highlighted to librarians how students’ ways of understanding, thinking and sensing impacted on their engagement with library resources, services and staff. This paper will discuss how the active participation of students throughout all stages of this research, from classroom activities reflecting on their library experience, through to the drafting of scripts and acting in an orientation video, has empowered them to advocate for students with ID and ASD across the university community.

Attendees will be invited to reflect on their own experience and understanding of library users with ASD and to learn more about the inclusive practice of involving students with intellectual disabilities and ASD in research programmes. Finally we will share our experiences of co-authoring a peer reviewed journal article with these students.