Prevalence of discrimination experienced by autistic youth as compared to neurotypical youth and youth with other neurodevelopmental diagnoses.

Abstract

Lay abstract: Autistic individuals have described facing unfair or discriminatory treatment across settings, such as in school and at work. However, there have been few studies examining how widespread or prevalent discrimination is against autistic individuals. We aimed to fill that gap by examining how prevalent or common it is for autistic youth to experience discrimination based on race or ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity, and health condition or disability. We compared rates of discrimination against autistic youth to youth without developmental differences/diagnoses and youth with other developmental differences (i.e. youth diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], learning disability, and speech/language disorders). We analyzed data from the 2021-2022 National Survey of Children's Health, which is a nationwide survey on which parents report about aspects of their children's lives. We found that autistic youth experience higher rates of discrimination based on race or ethnicity and sexual orientation or gender identity compared to youth who are typically developing and do not have a diagnosis (such as a speech or language disorder). Importantly, they also face significantly more discrimination due to their disability than youth with other diagnoses, such as ADHD, and youth without a developmental diagnosis. These results show that autistic youth are at risk for experiencing discriminatory treatment. Our study should motivate researchers, policymakers, and community members to address this critical issue.