The social protagonism of people with autist spectrum disorder in higher education: the mediation of information performed by the autistic collective of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Considering the information actions promoted by the Autistic Collective of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (CAUFRJ), this research aims to understand how the mediation of information carried out by CAUFRJ contributes to the social protagonism of people with autism spectrum disorder in Higher Education and for the awareness of the academic community in the fight against ableism. The theoretical framework discusses the access of these people to Higher Education, the challenges they encounter in this environment and the importance of information for the awareness of the academic community about the demands of people with autism spectrum disorder who are there. This research is characterized as descriptive, documentary, empirical and with a mixed approach. The questionnaire was adopted as the primary data collection technique. For this research, three publications were prepared, with open and current questions that had the CAUFRJ board as their target audience, chosen by the CAUFRJ board and the president's community, such as people with autism spectrum disorder or the community in the academic diagnosis process of CAUFRJ. Among the main results, we found the difficulties that exist in the CAUFRJ environment, pointed out by the professors, such as overload, heavy workload, participants with communication, group work, interaction, sudden changes, sensory issues and pressure. According to the results, these students are also impacted in the academic community by ableism, the lack of information from the university about the autistic community and the need to improve the dialogue with the university. The mediation of information carried out by CAUFRJ at UFRJ is done through informative posts about autism spectrum disorder on Instagram, through texts chosen according to the general interest of people, as well as in the service of people who seek the Collective due to the information that are disclosed. Also according to the results obtained, the academic community of UFRJ that participated in the research recognizes the social protagonism of the Collective. This research concludes that the information mediation actions carried out by CAUFRJ can contribute to the social protagonism of people with autism spectrum disorder in Higher Education, as well as to the appropriation of information that is capable of promoting awareness in individuals. However, in order for the CAUFRJ to reach its full potential, it still needs to improve the representation of people with autism spectrum disorder at UFRJ, which can be hampered by the fact that their demands are little heard by the university.