Is academia a good career path for autistic adults interested in research?
Introduction
Working in academia can be a double-edged sword for autistic people. On the one hand, this career path can nurture our monotropic tendencies, allowing us to deep dive into a niche research topic for months if not years on end. It can also offer some autonomy over our workload, where, aside from teaching commitments, we can choose which research projects to get involved with.
On the other hand, there are some aspects of academia that can work against our neurotype, such as a general lack of day-to-day structure, a heavy teaching load, administrative tasks or the impending sense of instability when employed on temporary teaching contracts. This is further compounded by systemic barriers within academia, such as the ‘hidden curriculum’ (Jones, 2023).
Studies reveal that autistic people and early career researchers, respectively, experience high levels of anxiety (Hwang et al, 2019; Hollywood et al., 2020). While there is little research on the experiences of autistic academics specifically, it is highly likely that they could experience potentially more anxiety from being both autistic and working in academia.
My experience of working in academia as an autistic researcher
Having spent a year studying for a Psychology postgraduate degree, just over a year as an Autism Research Assistant and coming up to two years supporting academics with promoting their research, I gained deep insight into the quite often complicated and messy nature of academic institutions:
Reasonable adjustments take forever to put in place due to approval processes and multiple teams involved in handling your case.
I was assigned an Autism Mentor to help with my university experience who didn’t really understand the complexities of being a late-diagnosed autistic adult in their thirties entering higher education after a 10-year break.
However, by having to independently advocate for my needs within academia, I have picked up a few tools to help other autistic people thrive in this environment.
The benefits of working in academia for autistic people
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Academia is probably the only place where your actual job is to deep dive into your special interest and then talk to people about it!
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Compared to some careers which stress the importance of weekly team meetings, team projects, team lunches and working in an office, in academia you do have some freedom in the topics you research, how your day is structured and whether you choose to work from home or not. Some autistic people, including myself, are very self-motivated and value the sense of control we have in creating a routine that works for us.
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Most if not all UK universities have dedicated mental health support, mentors and neurodivergent groups on campus. This can create a sense of community, a way to build friendships and join neurodivergent-friendly events.
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Most UK universities have hybrid policies in place, which means that you can work from home when your capacity for social interaction is low. Having the option to work from home can also:
Aid with sensory overwhelm as you can work from a familiar home environment and don’t have to contend with fluorescent lighting, weird smells and temperatures you can’t control.
Allow your monotropic and hyperfocus skills to shine without interruptions from colleagues.
The challenges that academia can present for autistic people
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Temporary contracts, precarious funding opportunities and an uncertain workload can be stressful for autistic people who often work best in stable environments. While academia is considered more ‘flexible’ than a standard nine-to-five job, this ‘flexibility’ can translate into fluctuating income, and a workload that may spill into your weekends or evenings. This unpredictability can throw our executive functioning out of whack and we might not be able to plan ahead.
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While you would typically be part of a research team, a lot of the time, you would be writing research papers by yourself. Sometimes, research teams are spread across multiple universities which may mean that you only ever interact with your colleagues on Zoom or e-mail. This may suit some autistic people, but for some, working alone five (if not more!) days a week can take its toll on their mental health and could lead to feeling isolated.
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The ‘hidden curriculum’, a set of lessons which are not openly intended, is rife within educational institutions. Networking with the ‘right’ people, collaborating with the ‘right’ academics, attending the ‘right’ conferences, churning out the ‘right’ number of academic papers are examples of implicit expectations that are placed on pretty much everyone in academia.
For many people, these hidden expectations seem to be universal knowledge to achieve career advancement; but autistic people sometimes struggle with these arbitrary rules as it takes a lot of effort for us to ‘figure out’ and anticipate the motivations of others. To avoid underachieving, we can feel pressured to go above and beyond what is expected and consequently burn out.
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Getting a job in academia is brutal as roles are becoming increasingly scarce. This drives competitiveness and as a result, a more rigorous recruitment process. Multiple rejections can trigger our Rejection Sensitivity. Dr. Nicola Martin, Professor of Social justice and Inclusive Education at London South Bank University, notes that panel members may misinterpret autistic communication styles, stemming from unconscious bias which may affect the hiring process.
What can help you thrive as an autistic researcher
Finding your community
Online groups like the Participatory Autism Research Collective and Autism Researchers Researching Autism are great ways to network online with other autistic researchers and share advice.
Your university may also have a Neurodiversity Staff Network to join.
I’d also recommend joining X (previously Twitter) and following the #AutisticsInAcademia hashtag.
Workplace training and online resources
You could check if your university could organise and fund specialist neurodiversity or autism workplace training for staff in your team.
There are lots of excellent neurodiversity-affirming and free online resources that you can share with supervisors and others you work with to help them learn more about neurodiversity in the workplace, such as NeuroWork.
Specialist Autism Mentoring
While mentoring can’t solve the structural issues embedded in academia, it can help you to identify which areas of it may present hurdles for you and how you can use your neurotype to navigate them.
A specialist autism mentor with experience in academia, like me, can help you with:
Constructing a timetable to help manage your unpredictable workload
Help you to speak to your supervisor / HR about workplace adjustments
Academic interview tips (including PhD and research assistant roles)
Identifying your strengths and areas of improvement (for example, if you enjoy public speaking at academic conferences but hate the compulsory networking)
Discovering how you like to work and how to advocate for those needs (such as reading research papers at home with no disruptions, preferring 1:1 supervision meetings instead of in a lab group).
The mentoring I offer to autistic people in academia (and many other fields including corporate and teaching) doesn’t teach you to just ‘cope’ with it by ignoring your needs or masking to ‘get by’; it will help you to thrive.
About the Author (Guest Contributor):
Sophie Longley is an associate mentor at Expand the Circle. She works with late diagnosed (including self-diagnosed) autistic women who are stuck in a rut with their careers or need guidance navigating the workplace as newly diagnosed/identified. You can follow Sophie on LinkedIn and X (previously Twitter).
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