This article discusses the challenge of including autistic teachers in higher education in Brazil, highlighting the scarcity of people diagnosed with autism working as university professors. In addition to these scarce university professors with autism, the first author of the article has the same diagnosis, reporting that as academics and professors, they were not prepared to deal with the diagnosis and to know the characteristics of autism in their careers.
Internationally, reports of people diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) working as higher education teachers are rare. A survey conducted in the United Kingdom in 2020-21 surveyed 224,530 academic professionals, of which only 220 identified themselves with an ASD diagnosis, that is, less than 0.1% (Irish, 2023). However, recent data from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) estimate that 1 in 31 children has a diagnosis of ASD, which is equivalent to 3.2%. Perhaps the discrepancy in the British survey is partly explained by the reluctance of some people to disclose their condition, for fear of discrimination and stigma (Irish, 2023; Goffman, 1981).
Although many adults are diagnosed late, there is still a large portion of the population without a diagnosis, which leads to underreporting, including the underdiagnosis of autistic women, due to the nuances of the female gender (Loureiro, 2024).
In Brazil, there is no data on the number of people with ASD in the population. A recent survey estimated the number of students with this diagnosis enrolled in higher education in 2023 to be around 6,000 out of a total of 10 million students, a rate of 0.06% (Jorge, 2024).
When we talk about people with autism, how many go on to earn a doctorate in Brazil? And of these, how many remain in their academic careers and become professors in higher education? The answers to these questions do not yet exist, but after extensive research, few reports of Brazilian professors with ASD working permanently in higher education were found.
Foucault (2014) presents the idea that formal educational spaces are, at the same time, constituted and constituent processes of social inclusion and exclusion. In this sense, investing in the retention of autistic teachers is to support the opening of small cracks in these power dynamics.
For Goffman (1981), the processes of social marginalization affect several categories, configuring themselves, even today, as social markers of differences, contributing to the construction of social representations of multiple minorities, on which expectations of behavior, thought, or values are projected.
In addition to these few teachers with ASD working in higher education, the first author of the article has the same diagnosis, in addition to giftedness and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and has worked for almost four years as a higher education teacher, either in face-to-face or distance learning.
As Irish (2023) reports, the diagnosis among doctors or academics in general is complicated by the fact that some people who gravitate towards a teaching career meet the criteria for giftedness, with high academic performance being a common characteristic, masking the specific challenges and difficulties they face.
Brazilian professor Mühlen (2024) reports that as an academic and higher education teacher, we were not prepared to deal with the diagnosis and to learn about the characteristics of ASD in our careers. The training focus, like that of the first author, was purely scientific and, at most, pedagogical, without the context of diversity.
For Praslova (2025), ASD, especially for adults who learn to master professional skills and wear social masks, is rarely noticed by others, leading to social invisibility. The author’s reflection corroborates the first author’s report by indicating that the diagnosis does not make us less capable, but can favor creativity, empathy, and problem-solving, contributing to the accessibility of neurodivergent students in the classroom, and can function as a bridge to promote accessibility.
More positively, autistic teachers consider their work style to be more structured and effective in promoting inclusion, serving as a model for autistic students (Wood et al., 2023). In addition, so-called hyperplasticity, greater brain adaptability in autistic people, favors creativity, learning, and memory (Grant & Kara, 2021).
Another advantage that Grant and Kara (2021) highlight is the high productivity of autistic academics, due to the long periods of concentration and hyperfocus that many autistic people can channel into academic life. Therefore, creative thinking, attention to detail, and knowledge of thematic areas of individual interest are present (Irish, 2023).
However, among the barriers faced, the fact that academic life often depends on the ability to establish networking and self-promotion stands out, that is, on communication and interpersonal skills, challenging aspects for most autistic people, including those who, like the first author, present compensatory cognitive processes associated with giftedness (Brixius-Anderko, 2023).
For Mason (2024), another difficulty is that autistic teachers may not be able to see the social paths and traps, which leads them to say what is true, instead of what is strategic. In addition, for the author, autistic people often cannot see the informal hierarchies that the social world creates, which can infuriate some people to whom they do not submit, leading to isolation in academic life.
Ultimately, the diagnosis of ASD in higher education teachers allows us to realize that there is nothing wrong, but rather that they have a different brain and a specific way of acting in the academic career, and that, with the necessary adaptations, they can become great researchers and mentors, intelligent, competent and passionate teachers capable of contributing significantly to society.
Ailton B. Costa, who has autism, ADHD, and giftedness, conducts research on teaching and assessing mathematics for people with visual impairments and people with autism. He works teaching mathematics to people with visual impairments and also for people with autism. He can be reached at ailton.barcelos@ufscar.br, +55 16 3351-8357.
Larissa G. P. A. Souza is a researcher with Specific Learning Disorder in Mathematics (Dyscalculia) and ADHD. Her work focuses on neurodiversity and accessibility in higher education. She is pursuing a master’s degree in special education at Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). Contact: psicologalarissa852@gmail.com, +55 (84) 99842-1832.
Thaiane Santana Santos is a researcher with Autism Spectrum Disorder and a background in Nursing, Mental Health, and Education. Her work focuses on neurodiversity, giftedness, and accessibility in higher education. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in sciences Applied to Health at the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS). Contact: thaianesantana08@gmail.com, +55 (79) 99943-9892
Josemery Araújo Alves is Postdoctoral in inclusive education in higher education, professor exclusively dedicated to the tourism course at UFRN, member of the inclusion and accessibility committee/CCSA/UFRN, and has coordinated research, teaching, and extension projects on inclusion and accessibility. Contact: josemery.alves@ufrn.br
Camilla G. M. N. Santos is an autistic researcher and psychologist specializing in autism and neuropsychology. Her work focuses on accessibility, neurodiversity, people with disabilities, and intersectionality. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in psychology at the UFS. Contact: grazimonteiro@gmail.com, +55 (79) 99182-6939.
References
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Loureiro, J. S. (2024). Autismo em mulheres: por que o diagnóstico é tão difícil? [Autism in females: why is diagnosis so difficult?]. Brazilian Journal of Implantology and Health Sciences, 6 (11), 4009-4021. https://doi.org/10.36557/2674-8169.2024v6n11p4009-4021
Mason, D. (2024). I’m an Autistic Professor—I Need Rules, but My College Broke Them. Newsweek. September 05, 2024.
Mühlen, Carin von (2024). Uma professora universitária autista nas engenharias com diagnóstico na fase adulta como berço de projeto de extensão sobre neurodiversidade [An autistic university professor in engineering diagnosed in adulthood as the cradle of an extension project on neurodiversity]. Revista Interagir, 37.
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