Desafios da inclusão: a invisibilidade das pessoas com Transtorno do Espectro Autista no ensino superior

Autists have come to higher education and are facing challenges. The aim of this research was to identify, from the point of view of the student with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) the process of adaptation to the university, the difficulties faced the strategies used and the resources offered by the universities. The qualitative descriptive exploratory research was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee and conducted through three Focus Groups with autists who attended higher education. The results showed that, in adapting to the university, they faced difficulties related to stigma, lack of knowledge of ASD by the academic community, and difficulties caused by the characteristics of ASD, such as sensory and emotional overload. As an adaptation strategy, three participants chose to communicate the diagnosis to the higher education institution, four reported preferring not to reveal the diagnosis. Participants reported difficulties in obtaining didactic-pedagogical adaptations, despite the existence of nuclei for this purpose. Although each autistic person demands specific interventions, the HEI needs to build mechanisms that welcome it and favor the inclusion process. Universal measures, available to the entire academic body, focused on promoting equity, upholding and valuing diversity, and educating the campus community by providing information about ASD are necessary not only for the inclusion of the autistic, but for building a society fairer to everyone. Keywords : Inclusion; autism; college.