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

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 b...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of education for business 2020-11, Vol.95 (8), p.534-540
Main Authors: Kaupins, Gundars, Chenoweth, Tim, Klein, Felice
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asperger Syndrome
Asperger's
Autism
Business education
College Faculty
college instructors
College professors
College Students
gender
Gender Differences
high-functioning autism
Pervasive Developmental Disorders
ratings
reveal
Self Disclosure (Individuals)
Student Attitudes
Student Evaluation of Teacher Performance
students
Teacher evaluations
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary: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.
ISSN:0883-2323
1940-3356
DOI:10.1080/08832323.2020.1716204