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Hogg, & Vaughan (2011) defined attitudes as a “relatively enduring organization of beliefs, feelings and behavioral tendencies towards socially significant groups’ events or symbols”. Researchers regarding attitudes toward individuals with ASD, particularly the attitudes of adults and young people are lacking within the research literature. Earlier researchers’ attitudes toward individuals with ASD have focused mainly on the attitudes of typically developing children toward children with ASD.
Some research suggests that attitudes toward individuals with autism are primarily positive. A survey done Great Britain Department of Health survey in 2008 suggested that 85% of Brits think that individuals with autism deserve sympathy, and more than 80% of Brits think that society should be more tolerant of them. In addition, an experiment by Boysen and Vogel (2008) found that subjects disagreed with statements suggesting that autism is a sign of weakness or a person’s fault. Subjects were primarily willing to live in a neighborhood with a treatment center, and to date a person who formerly had autism.
However, not all attitudes toward autism are so positive. It is common knowledge that mental illness of any kind (such as autism) comes with a certain stigma (placement in a category of unworthy or inferior status). In an experiment by Phelan and Basow (2007), for example, individuals labeled as having a mental illness were perceived to be more dangerous which, in turn, produced social distancing.
Discrimination toward individuals with mental illnesses occurs in many forms including segregation, avoidance, and withholding of help (Corrigan & O’Shaughnessy). An individual who was rejected for a job due to his autism, for example, may have fallen victim to segregation. Only 20% of people with serious mental health issues are employed, in comparison with 65% of people with more visible physical ailments
Research has suggested that those who are familiar with a mental illness such as autism display less prejudice towards it according to the Opinions About Mental Illness scale (Cohen & Struening, 1962). In addition, individuals familiar with a mental illness perceive the mentally ill to be less dangerous (Alexander & Link, 2003), and desire less social distancing (Corrigan, Edwards, Green, Diwan, & Penn, 2001; Corrigan, Green, Lundin, Kubiak, & Penn, 2001; Link & Cullen, 1986). Research has found that positive interpersonal contact is even more effective in reducing discrimination toward mental illnesses than either protest or education (Overton & Medina, 2008). As contact increases, the perception of danger and attempts to keep a distance decrease.
In an experiment by Swaim and Morgan (2001), third and sixth-grade children showed less positive attitudes toward a short video of a child with autism than toward a video of a child without autism. These attitudes were evaluated using the Adjective Checklist (Siperstein, & Bak, 1980). In addition, girls and older children rated their classmates’ behavioral intentions toward the child with autism in the video significantly less positively than toward the child without autism in the video.
The subjects’ reactions to contact with an individual with autism will also vary depending on the symptoms displayed. According to Campbell (2006), behavior is judged as more favorable when the symptoms are less frequent. In addition, positive behaviors (such as acting out or speaking incoherently) are judged as more disturbing and dangerous than negative behaviors (such as staring at the floor and not speaking). It is encouraging to note that significance was not found for the correlation between contact with individuals with autism and perceived violence.
This may suggest that in contrast to mental illness in general (Phelen & Basow, 2007), autism does not provoke an image of violence at all. This makes sense, considering the media’s portrayal of autism in movies like Mercury Rising Mozart and the Whale, and Rain Man, in which the autistic character is not at all violent. It does seem, however, that contact with individuals on the autistic spectrum does improve college students’ attitudes toward them. This suggests that efforts to integrate individuals with autism into the community may be helpful.
According to, only 38.8% of the study participants heard the word ‘autism. The majority of the participants stated that they wouldn’t feel uneasy if an autistic individual was present in their environment, workplace, or classroom of their children. This phenomenon might stem from the favorable viewpoints of the participants about autism or their higher level of awareness.
Chambers et al., (2008) highlight the potential importance of knowledge and understanding of ASD about attitudes. Via watching four videos, each representing a child engaging in a behavior, two of the behaviors were problematic and two were not, researchers studied the effect on adults’ attitudes to a child showing problematic behaviors. Half of the respondents were informed that the child had ASD and the other half were not. All respondents were required to rate the child’s behavior in several circumstances; social, cognitive, and emotional after watching the same four videos. The result indicated that respondents had significantly more positive attitudes when they were knowledgeable of the child’s ASD diagnosis compared to respondents who were not knowledgeable (Chambers, et al., 2008; Matthews et al., 2015). This suggests that the accuracy of knowledge may be an important factor when investigating attitudes (O’Halloran, 2017).
, Campbell’s (2006) study detailed the negative impact of inclusion on children with ASD and other learning disabilities are frequently subjected to peer isolation and bullying from their typically developing peers. This study proved that children with psychiatric illnesses and developmental and learning disabilities experience greater social rejection and negative evaluation compared to children with physical disabilities.
A similar study to Nevill, & White (2011) but a different sample, Gillespie-Lynch, et al., (2015) assessed undergraduate universities’ knowledge of autism through an online educational intervention and the stigma of students with ASD through an online educational intervention training program. Respondents were required to complete a self-report measure of stigma related to ASD and a self-report measure of autism knowledge immediately before and after (pre-intervention and post-intervention scores) during the program. Results through an intervention revealed an increase significantly in knowledge and a decrease significantly in stigma on students’ attitudes toward ASD.
In another study conducted with college students, the quantity of previous contact with autism was associated with openness towards autism. Gardiner and Iarocci (2014) examined associations between autism knowledge and openness towards a character in a vignette who exhibited symptoms (but not the label) of autism. Statistical analyses concerning autism knowledge were not reported. However, the authors stated that participants were generally quite knowledgeable about autism. Over 80 % of participants stated that the character in the vignette did not make them afraid, that they would not mind living in the same building with the person, and that they would probably like him. In contrast, only 48.8 % said that they would hang out with the person in their free time. Notably, a similar percentage of participants (47.8 %) showed interest in volunteering with people with autism. Thus, college students may be accepting of people on the spectrum in terms of distant relationships, such as living in the same building, but far fewer college students may be interested in engaging more directly with people on the spectrum, by hanging out or volunteering with them. Given that stigma is often assessed by asking how willing participants are to engage with a type of person at varying levels of intimacy (Bogardus 1933), these findings suggest that college students hold stigmatizing attitudes toward peers with autism.
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