PhD Candidate Kari Sherwood presented her poster, “Prevalence of Autistic Microaggressions in the Workplace” at the 2024 Illinois Center for Transition and Work Symposium and the University of Illinois Urban-Champaign.

Introduction:

• Autistic individuals have higher unemployment rates than their allistic peers (Roux et al., 2015) and often face challenges with the social aspects of maintaining a job (Bury et al., 2021).
• Social factors such as microaggressions can impact autism employment.
• We adapted a valid measure of microaggressions (Kattari et al., 2019) for use with autistic people.

Primary Aim:

• To measure the prevalence of autistic microaggressions experienced by autistic adults in the workplace.

Methods:

• n=60 autistic adults participated in a randomized control trial during which they completed baseline measures of social ability and mental health status.
• Autistic microaggressions were measured at baseline via a 57-question self-report measure, Autistic Microaggressions in the Workplace Inventory (AMWI-57).
• A factor analysis revealed two factors, including a subscale on exclusion at work.
• Social responsiveness was measured using the SRS-2; self-direction and work skills were measured using the ABAS-3.
• Descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlations were used to analyze demographic and survey data.

Results:

• 88% of autistic professionals experience autism-related microaggressions in the workplace.
• Exploratory analyses examined the relationship between age, race, and gender identity with microaggressions and found no statistically significant between-group differences.
• Microaggressions were significantly correlated with social responsiveness (r=.41, p<.01), self-direction (r=-.51, p<.001), and work skills (r=-.39, p<.01).

Limitations:

• These are preliminary results and must be interpreted within the context of study limitations such as small sample size.
• We did not gather data on autism disclosure at work, which might have an impact on microaggressions experienced by participants as autism is an invisible disability.
• These adult participants may have had more experience masking than transition-age youth holding entry level positions would have.

Implications:

• Autistic microaggressions are prevalent in the workplace, which may contribute to the employment status and/or quality of life for autistic adults.
• Employer/coworker-facing interventions as well as bystander intervention training, might provide one solution to the problem of autistic microaggressions in the workplace.

Download the poster here: INSAR 2024 Poster Microaggressions