Misconceptions About Autism

What people know and what they believe about a disability are important factors that may influence their attitudes and behaviour intentions toward people with the disability. Without adequate understanding of students’ ideas and conceptions and/or misconceptions about autism, peer education efforts will only be built upon adults’ and professionals’ estimates of what students may or may not know about autism (Campbell et al., 2011). Current research highlights a number of variables that need to be considered in developing students’ knowledge and attitudes toward peers with autism. This section presents a brief summary of findings, limitations of this study accompanied by suggestions for future research, and potential implications for peer

It was found that less than half of the sample (n=13, 46%) had heard of the term ‘autism’, a majority of them being aware that autism is a type of disability. A few participants were able to describe autism or attributes associated with autism. A small number (n=5, 18%) of students could provide correct responses to all five questions about the etiology, course, communicability, and curability of autism. However, none of these participants responded correctly to questions about the characteristics of autism (i.e., difficulty in looking at other people, difficulty in learning how to read or write, difficulty in talking or expressing themselves, and difficulty in changing activities). Five other students (18%) assumed that a person with autism may have those difficulties. These findings are compatible with Campbell et al.’s (2011), where they found that middle school students held only basic conceptions of autism as a type of

The prior awareness of the term, however, did not effect their responses about core symptoms associated with autism. In addition, no particular relationship between students’ self-reported contacts or experience of individuals with autism was observed. This finding is in line with previous studies (Hazzard, 1983). Hazzard (1983) suggests that it is likely that the effect of contacts with people with disability on children’s knowledge or attitudes depends on the nature and the type of the contact. Students’ previous experience that was assessed in this study may have been limited to one or two peers with autism, if ever. Given the unstable knowledge of autism, and the self report nature of the interview, their perceived experience may not have brought about the increase in