“THE BEACON ON CAMPUS” - How an Autism-Specific Community College Support Program Addresses Ableism and Autism Acceptance

Oct 15, 2026

Autism-specific college support programs (ASPs) are emerging to create more equitable transitions into higher education for autistic students. This case study applies the social justice model of disability to examine how an ASP can dismantle ableism on a community college campus. Findings show how the program gained legitimacy, overcame challenges, and advanced autism acceptance by disrupting institutional ableism, transforming campus life into a more welcoming environment. The results inform student affairs practice by reducing ableist behaviors and messaging.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background and Research Gap

Autism-Specific Support and Stakeholder Perspectives

Ableism and Autism Acceptance

Theoretical Framework

Ableism and Internalized Ableism

“THE BEACON ON CAMPUS”: HOW AN AUTISM-SPECIFIC COMMUNITY COLLEGE SUPPORT PROGRAM ADDRESSES ABLEISM AND AUTISM ACCEPTANCE Brett Ranon Nachman University of Arkansas Abstract Autism-specific college support programs (ASPs) are emerging to create more equitable transitions into higher education for autistic students. Such programming is necessary to guide autistic students’ journeys as they navigate academia with greater agency. This case study, drawing on the social justice model of disability, explores how an ASP works to dismantle ableism on a community college campus. Findings suggest how the ASP gained legitimacy, surmounted challenges, and promoted autism acceptance in its quest to disrupt institutional ableism and, consequently, transform its campus into amore welcoming space for autistic students. Student affairs practitioners can draw on findings to eradicate ableist practices and messaging within their campus spaces. Keywords: autism, disability, ableism, community colleges, autistic college students This study is supported by the Paul P. Fidler Research Grant from the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition at the University of South Carolina. Please direct inquires about this manuscript to: Brett Ranon Nachman, [bnachman@uark.edu](bnachman@uark.edu) College Student Affairs Journal, Volume 41(1), pp. 31-45 ISSN 2381-2338 Copyright 2023 Southern Association for College Student Affairs All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. 32 College Student Affairs Journal Vol. 41, No. 1, 2023 Programs designed for autistic students directly tailor their support and services to meet students’ distinct characteristics and needs (Nachman, 2020) . However, ASPs are underrepresented at community colleges, with only 11 in the United States (Nachman et al., 2022), despite nearly 81% of autistic students enrolling in higher education attending these institutions (Wei et al., 2014). Community colleges offer many benefits for autistic students, including smaller classes that enhance the likelihood of gaining more attention from educators (Adreon & Durocher, 2007; Evans et al., 2017) and a variety of certifications and degrees for those with specialized interests (Highlen, 2016) . Additionally, since fewer community college students live independently, autistic individuals who may not feel ready to leave their family home can delay those stressors (Perner, 2002) . Despite autistic students tending to enroll at community colleges at higher rates than four year colleges and universities, an absence of scholarship on this front exists, as highlighted in Nachman (2021), who noted in a systematic literature re- view of autism in higher education that only seven of 108 studies solely centered on autistic community college students. Published research has not yet explored the role of community college ASPs. This study aims to fill that gap, providing enlightenment on how these critical programs can serve autistic students who use community college asa mechanism for their post-secondary education pursuits. ASPs provide support to autistic students in learning how to navigate social interactions (Barnhill, 2016), gain independence, and engage with autistic peers (Retherford & Schreiber, 2015; Siewet al., 2017). They also offer life skills support, peer mentors, and specialized orientation or transition services (Cox et al., 2020) . Increasingly, some ASP-centered studies have featured autistic students’ perspectives (e.g., Lei et al., 2020); however, none have explicitly included staff, faculty, and administrators as participants. Understandings of college employees’ perspectives are often limited to studies showcasing campuses lacking ASPs (e.g., Austin & Peña, 2017; Knott & Taylor, 2014) . Even more, although scholarship has begun to explore who runs these programs and where they are housed (Viezel et al., 2020), the context behind why ASPs are situated in specific spaces, how

FAQs

What is the purpose of autism-specific college support programs (ASPs)?

ASPs aim to support autistic students’ transitions into higher education by tailoring services to distinct needs, helping them navigate social interaction and independence while promoting autism acceptance.

How does the study explain ASPs’ role in addressing ableism?

Using the social justice model of disability, the study examines how the ASP gained legitimacy and disrupted institutional ableism, leading to more welcoming campus practices and messaging.

What theoretical focus guides the study?

The theoretical framework emphasizes actions aligned with the social justice model of disability, highlighting how staff, faculty, and administrators work against internalized and societal ableism to shape students’ experiences.

Oct 15, 2026

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