Should college instructors reveal their high functioning autism in the classroom?

Abstract

College instructors with highly functional autism, also known as Asperger’s, can have difficulty interacting with students. To mitigate the potentially reduced teaching ratings, college instructors must decide whether to reveal their condition to the students. Using a survey of 393 university business students, the hypothesis was that instructors who revealed that they have Asperger’s at the beginning of instruction will receive higher ratings from students. Evidence suggests that ratings were higher when instructors revealed they had Asperger’s, rather than displaying characteristics typical of Asperger’s without revealing. This effect only was found for male students. The findings of this study suggest that instructors with Asperger’s should reveal their condition to students.

Keywords:

• Asperger’s
• college instructors
• gender
• high-functioning autism
• ratings
• reveal
• students

Notes

1 Ethnicity was not included in the survey due to the lack of ethnic minorities in the western university. Education level was not included as almost all students were freshmen or sophomores.