Employability for UK university students and graduates on the autism spectrum: Mobilities and materialities

Abstract

This article examines the transition from higher education to employment for autistic university students and recent graduates. This study has particular significance given that increasing numbers of autistic young people are entering higher education across the globe yet employability outcomes are typically some of the worst of any disabled student group. The article draws on qualitative data from twenty-one semi-structured interviews with autistic students and graduates and sixteen focus groups with 58 community stakeholders, including parents, public servants, university careers advisors and disability support workers. Analysis of these data, through a mobilities paradigm, indicate four themes (1) employment (im)mobilities; (2) inaccessible recruitment processes; (3) embodied materialities and employment; and (4) resourcing employment mobilities. The article makes a significant contribution to the field in arguing that autistic graduates are at a disadvantage in terms of accessing meaningful employment and indicating the human and non-human actors and actants that influence their outcomes.