1

End of Service-Learning Reflection

Nicholas C. Sparshott

Department of Health Sciences, Towson University

IDHP 300: Individuals on the Autism Spectrum

Professor Mathew Burger

May 11th, 2023

2

Introduction

Throughout Individuals on the Autism Spectrum (IDHP300), I did not expect to take

away so many great experiences and knowledge about the autistic community. From topics such

as ableism, diagnosis, language, and allyship, this course has really changed my outlooks on the

autistic community. When I signed up for this class, I thought it would be an easy way to fulfil

my credits since I thought I knew already what autism and disability was – my mother works at a

high school in a FALS classroom, or “Functional Academic Learning Support” where most

students have disabilities and need the class in order to advance in their grades. She often tells

me stories of what happens in the classroom or just generally how the students are doing. My

cousin also has “Asperger’s syndrome” – I chose to quote this term because he was diagnosed

when the term was still socially accepted, and it is also how my family still labels his disorder.

Throughout taking this course, I quickly began to realize that the world of autism and disability

is much larger than the little experience I’ve had. The class I chose to take at the Hussman

Center for Adults with Autism (HCAA) was the music group. Since my major is music

education, I thought it would give me a chance to help educate people and be able to share my

love for music.

Autistic Needs

The first experience that stood out to me was at the HCAA in the second class of the

program. The activity our teacher had planned for us involved listing our favorite songs and

having the teacher play them for us. One of the students became very emotional and upset that

the songs their classmates were picking were “bad” songs. A couple minutes after they became

upset, they grew angry, and even went as far as threatening other students with a pencil and
3

unfortunately were removed from the classroom. After experiencing this, I thought this was a

great example of high-level and low-level needs. When it comes to language in the community

of autism, it is always changing. Originally, autism was categorized through the terms “high

functioning” and “low functioning” autism. These terms reflect ableism, neurotypical bias, and

restrict autistic individuals with what they can accomplish with the right supports and

opportunities (HCAA). Instead, this course taught me that using terms such as “low-support

needs” and “high-support needs” doesn’t place autistic individuals into strict categories, and

instead helps with identifying what they can do or need to succeed. In the case of this upset

student, it appeared that they only required low-level needs in basic functions such as

communication and movement but required high-level needs emotionally. This experience

overall was helpful for me over the course of the next classes with this individual, as I

purposefully asked what they needed when they became emotionally distressed which helped in

guiding them into a less emotional state.

In my first social group, I experienced a similar example of low and high-support needs.

One of the rooms at social group had a space for people to play board games, do word searches,

read, and just relax and socialize. I found someone who was playing a board game alone, so I

asked to join, and they said sure. I noticed that as we talked, they had trouble with

communicating what they wanted to say, but I quickly learned to give them the patience to finish

their thoughts. I learned that they worked at a factory bottling spices and moving packages, and

we went on to talk about different types of jobs. This is another example of low-support needs

and high-support needs, as they do not need any support working at their job but might need high

support needs in situations such as a job where they are required to speak.
4

Appropriate Language

Another major experience that stood out to me was the use of language at the HCAA.

Language plays a large role in the community of autism, and in class I learned that a lot of this

language is constantly changing to keep up with research and to defeat derogatory terminology.

There is a strong debate when it comes to addressing autistic individuals, and the question at the

center of this debate is whether to use “person-first language” (PFL) or “identity-first language

(IFL). PFL was coined in the early 1970’s to denote that disability is not just an individual’s only

defining feature, and that by placing “person” in front emphasizes the individual’s variety of

strengths, experiences, and personality. PFL also implies that disabled people “should be given

the same human rights standards, protections and opportunities expected for any other person”

(Vivanti, 2020). On the other hand, there has currently been a large demand to use IFL to address

autistic individuals, as “identify-first language recognizes disability as a culture, promoting

autonomy, agency, and choice over one’s destiny” (Best et al., 2022). This language essentially

recognizes that autism is something that is a part of them and that it is not a derogatory word.

Compared to PFL, IFL doesn’t portray disability as something negative, and instead embraces it.

Through learning this concept of language, I started to become conscious of what

language I chose when writing and talking about autistic individuals (eventually deciding on

IFL). I also fully expected to use this language in my time at the HCAA. But, to my surprise, I

never once encountered a situation where I needed to use it when talking to an autistic individual

– we all simply used our names to talk to each other. Though this language is important when it

comes to addressing autism through writing and identity, simply asking someone how they want

to be referred as is very important, and through my experiences at the HCAA, people just to want

to be referred to as their own name.

5

Ableism

One thing I have encountered both in class and at the HCAA is the concept of ableism.

Ableism can be defined as bias, prejudice, and discrimination in favor or non-disabled people,

and it “hinges on the idea that people with disabilities are less valuable than nondisabled people”

(Sullivan, 2021). Some negative types of ableism include institutional ableism (medical,

workplace, etc.), interpersonal ableism (social interaction and relationships), and internal ableism

(unconsciously believing in harmful messages about disability) (Sullivan, 2021). After learning

about ableism in class, I started to notice many examples throughout my daily life, and it slowly

became one of the most compelling topics to me. One example of ableism I found was through

class. During our “Ableism Reduction Plan” presentations, one student based their plan around

Towson University. Throughout TU’s campus, many buildings do not have access ramps for

wheelchairs (or have only one for the entire building), many walkways are not disability

accessible, and there is even a lack of maintenance on automatic doors and elevators. Many

people overlook using stairs or an automatic door that is not working, but to the disabled

community it creates a huge problem, so the students’ plan to raise awareness of these issues on

campus was a great representation of ableism that even I originally overlooked. This experience

in class helped me to look at things from a broader perspective, and that communities such as the

autistic community struggle because of ableist framework.

Another example of ableism I found was during my last week of class. In the previous

week, I unfortunately had to miss a class for a school performance, so I chose to make up my

time in the art class. Towards the end of class, one of the students made an announcement for

everyone to go to change.org to sign their petition, “A gender neutral autism diagnostic test”.

The goal of this petition was to spread awareness for the lack of autism diagnosis amongst
6

women, and to make the change to use a gender-neutral test instead. In the autistic community,

women are often placed on the back burner when being diagnosed. One large contributor to this

problem is because of masking – a social survival strategy that helps hide one’s natural

personality to conform to societal norms. This can be seen in many forms, such as scripted

conversation, mimicking gestures, imitating facial expression, and stimming (expelling energy

through bodily movements). Masking may also explain why “three to four times as many boys as

girls are diagnosed with the condition. It might also account for why girls diagnosed young tend

to show severe traits, and highly intelligent girls are often diagnosed late” (Russo, 2018). Due to

factors such as masking, many undiagnosed women deal with institutional ableism just because

they “don’t look disabled” (Sullivan, 2021). This individuals’ story is one of many examples of

ableism that negatively affects the autistic community, and I’ve realized that people other than

just the autistic community can advocate for issues like this.

Conclusion

It felt strange to me to learn about autism in an educational setting and to “observe” what

we learned in class through the HCAA programs, but through spending time in the program and

at the social groups, I have grown to realize that the autistic community is just a community of

different people. At the HCAA, I was able to connect with many individuals, share many

interests, form friendships, and share my love of music with this community – just like I would

have with the neurotypical friends and people I have met in my life. In my music group I had the

privileged to see people sing, dance, play instruments, and even perform myself, and seeing

everyone’s personality and self-confidence through theses performances helped me a lot with my

own confidence and social skills, which is something I can use when I start teaching.
7

This experience has also helped me become more of an ally. It’s unfair for marginalized

groups such as the autistic community to suffer from oppressive thinking, infrastructure, and

societal norms. So, when I begin teaching, I want my classroom to be an ableism-free

environment. I want to create a space where students of all backgrounds, identities, and

disabilities can learn without the fear of discrimination and have what they need to have the best

education. My time at the HCCA has changed my outlook on autism in many ways, and from

this point forward I plan to make conscious efforts to be an ally, spot ableism, and educate

people on autism and how they can be an ally.

8

References

Krista L. Best, W. Ben Mortenson, Zach Lauzière-Fitzgerald & Emma M.

Smith (2022). Language matters! The long-standing debate between identity-first

language and person first language, Assistive Technology, 34:2, 127-

128, DOI: 10.1080/10400435.2022.2058315

Mason, Z. (2022). Petition to gender-neutral diagnostic test for autism spectrum disorder,

change.org. https://www.change.org/p/instagram-youtube-a-gender-neutral-autism-

diagnostic-test

Russo, F. (2018, February 21). The costs of camouflaging autism. Spectrum.

https://doi.org/10.53053/ZNSG1811

Sullivan, D. (2021). What is ableism, and what is its impact? Medical News Today.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/ableism

Vivanti, G. (2020). Ask the editor: What is the most appropriate way to talk about individuals

with a diagnosis of autism? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 50, 691-

693. https://doi.org/10/1007/s10803-019-04280-x

Zaks (2020). A note on language at the Hussman Center, IDHP 300 and Service Learning at the

Hussman Center. file:///Users/nicks/Downloads/HCAA%20Language.pdf