While the number of autistic students attending college has increased, research in this area has only recently gained momentum. Research on faculty interactions and relationships with autistic students is particularly limited. In this qualitative study, I conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 faculty to explore how they interacted with and supported autistic students. My aim was to better understand the salient beliefs of faculty which underlie faculty interactions with autistic students. I used the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991a) as a theoretical framework to frame my research questions, data collection, and analysis. My analysis revealed that faculty created opportunities and spaces for autistic students at their institutions and for autistic people within their communities to thrive. Faculty, through their teaching, research, service, and coaching/mentoring, made conscious decisions to act in ways that supported their students’ academic learning, improved students’ social experiences, and sought to elevate the voices of autistic people in their work. The major findings of this study indicate that faculty believed that: (1) their supportive actions towards autistic students and people were beneficial to autistic students and other autistic people, other students, and themselves, (2) the approval of actual autistic students, people, and colleagues significantly influenced faculty’s behavioral choices and learning about autism, and (3) the presence of institutional supports and faculty members’ ability to adapt and to challenge their own stereotypes or assumptions enabled them to effectively address any obstacles and provide support to autistic students and individuals. The outcomes of this study offer new insight into how faculty interact with autistic students and the factors that contribute to their choices to support students.
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