What have we done?

Developing the training

We worked with a group of autistic students and advisors to develop a set of five training sessions, as well as a short-course version.

The students told us what they thought was most important for staff to learn, gave feedback on the session structure and materials, and filmed short videos so that staff could hear about real-life experiences of being autistic at university.

The training included:

• A pre-training autism knowledge and stigma questionnaire
• Pre-recorded short lectures
• Interactive activities
• Videos from students
• Additional reading, videos, and podcast links
• A repeat of the questionnaire from the start of the course

We then advertised the training to staff at the University of Bristol, University of the West of England, and the University of York. Both academics and professional services staff were invited, and it was open to anyone who was interested and worked directly with students.

Over five months, we trained:

• 42 staff members on the five-week course
• 84 staff members on the short-course

Of these, 36 were academics and 33 were from professional services, including Library staff, Disability Services staff, and Careers Service staff.

Once they had completed the training, staff were invited to give their feedback on the course alongside completing the questionnaire measuring changing in their knowledge and stigma levels.