Residents with autism must be held to the same standard as all other students. DISABILITY NEVER EXCUSES BEHAVIOR (Thierfeld Brown, 2014). However, considering a resident’s disability can provide a more complete picture of a misconduct situation.

In conduct situations, especially situations as severe as a Title IX investigation, the process should be accommodated and accommodations should be negotiated with the student. Students are not likely to ask for accommodations, so it is important that someone who knows that the student has ASD or suspects the student has ASD explains to the resident how disclosing may help them receive accommodations and/or talk with the resident about what accommodations might assist them (Thierfeld Brown, 2014).

For Residence Life and Conduct staff to respond appropriately to these situations, it is helpful for them to know why these situations can arise (e.g. common issue for students with autism as a result of difficulties with nonverbal communication, social appropriateness, etc.) and why certain reactions, such as the way the student in the case reacted (not asking for help, freezing up, pacing, no eye-contact, fidgeting, social inappropriateness etc.) may be typical for a student with autism, and how difficult and stressful that might be in a hearing setting (Thierfeld Brown, 2014).

As previously mentioned on the pages Challenges for College Students with ASD: Sensory Difficulties and R.A. Best Practices By Topic: Sensory Difficulties, it is important that R.A.s be aware of how sensory overload and overstimulation, especially if paired with other factors, can escalate into a conduct incident. R.A.s should consider what sensory difficulties might arise in the residence hall and how they may escalate into problems.

It is important that R.A.s go through the disciplinary code with the resident. Residents are frequently told what they cannot do, but are not necessarily told what they SHOULD do. Many students with ASD need the code of conduct “translated” into bullet points that would more appropriately tell students how to behave and what to do in certain situations. The same should go for conduct hearings- rather than just telling students what is going to happen, translate that to how to make that happen for someone who takes things very literally (Thierfeld Brown, 2014).

When you have a resident with ASD in a conduct situation, talk to your R.D. and ask if they could reach out to disability services and arrange to have someone from disability services act as an interpreter for the student on the spectrum during the disciplinary process.