"It's Like You're a Jockey Riding a Horse and You're in a World of Centaurs": Unmasking Autistic College Students' Identity Development

Abstract: As more autistic students enroll in postsecondary education, they embark on a journey that leads them to not only process their identities as college students but also as autistic individuals. This social constructivist grounded theory study elevated autistic college students' perspectives as they made sense of their identities while participating in an autism-specific college support program. The study presents a new conceptual framework: the Nachman Autistic College Student Identity Development Model. This model relays three key stages that influence the sense-making of autistic college students: (a) discovering their disabilities, (b) approaching independence, and (c) determining autistic affiliation. Scholars and practitioners can draw from this model and the study's findings to inform how to account more holistically for autistic college students' iterative identity development.