Elon University junior Tess Trayner is almost never in their apartment. Whether they are playing drums for the Elon Music Ambassadors or hanging out with friends late at night, Trayner is finding connection on their own terms.

Elon University sophomore and dancer Maddie Milner loves hanging out in her dorm. She plays Playstation video games with her long-distance partner and hangs out with her emotional support cat, Theo. Lately, her focus has shifted slightly from dance performance to dance research, and she says her research mentor’s office has become her home on campus.

Trayner and Milner are busy college students, and they happen to have autism spectrum disorder. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, autism is the combination of “restrictive, repetitive behaviors” and delays in social and emotional skills. Autistic individuals can experience anything from a need for routine to sensory overload to not intuitively understanding social cues. Each person’s diagnosis will manifest differently. 

In April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released updated data on the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder in the United States, with the most recent data coming from 2022. 

The report says 1 in 31 children are diagnosed with autism, which is a 15% increase from 2020, where 1 in 36 children were diagnosed. Prevalence of autism has been steadily rising since the data was first collected in 2000, with only a few years of stagnation. Scientists and experts have attributed the recent rise in autism diagnoses to increased awareness of the condition and changing diagnosis criteria to include mild cases such as Asperger’s.

In a press conference the day after the CDC released their report, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made false claims about autism being caused by environmental factors rather than genetic factors and factors still unknown to scientists. In addition, he made broad and inaccurate statements on the livelihoods of autistic individuals, which sparked backlash throughout the autistic and scientific community.

“These are kids who will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go out on a date,” Kennedy said.   

But are they kids who will never go to college?

Autism Representation at Elon University

College is not only a place to get a degree and start a career, it’s the transition period between adolescence and adulthood. Students learn how to live independently, acquire academic and social skills and prepare for a post-graduate career or further studies by seeking out internships and networking. But due to the social deficit aspect of autism, students with autism usually struggle more with the transition from high school to college.

Amy Gravino, autistic relationships coach at Rutgers University, said that because much of the research done on autism focuses on children and adolescents, there are not many resources and help available for autistic young adults once they reach college. 

“In high school, right, you have the IEP, you're identified already as being autistic,” Gravino said. “But you go to college, and you have to self identify and you have to advocate for services and support that you need.”

Gravino said many autistic individuals are not taught how to self-advocate because their parents and other adults in their life often spoke for them or over them. 

“The colleges, I don't think, understand how difficult that is, how challenging it is to suddenly be thrown into this very different world,” she said.

According to a Fall 2024 report by the American College Health Association, 4.1% of cisgender male college students, 2.9% of cisgender female college students and 25% of transgender and gender non-conforming college students surveyed have autism.

Out of the 6,502 undergraduate students who attend Elon University, between 60 to 70 students have autism and are registered with Disabilities Resources, according to its director, Monica Isbell. That is between 0.92 to 1.07 percent of the undergraduate student population. There are plausibly more students on campus who have autism but either decide not to disclose it or do not receive accommodations.

Gravino said colleges have to start acknowledging that they have autistic students at all, even the students who have not self-identified.

Many autistic individuals have co-occurring conditions. For example, research says that 37% of individuals with autism also have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Elon junior Tess Trayner, who uses they/them pronouns, has ADHD alongside their autism, while Elon sophomore Maddie Milner has obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), Ehler-Danlos Syndrome and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). This can make each case of autism even more unique.

Isbell said that many students who come to Disabilities Resources have multiple diagnoses.

Similarly, many autistic individuals have intersecting identities, such as gender, sexuality, race and religion, that impact their experience with their autism diagnosis. Gravino said autistic students she has spoken to can struggle to fit in with those groups while embracing their autistic identity.

“The LGBTQ clubs and things don't want them because they're autistic, and then the autistic clubs don't want them because they're LGBTQ,” she said, “and it's like there's no place, you know, for people who have those intersecting identities.” 

Elon junior Ahron Frankel has ADHD, and he said he didn’t “click with” the Gender and LGBTQIA Center (GLC) or the Asian-Pacific Student Association (APSA) on campus despite being queer and Indian. He ended up finding his “place” on campus elsewhere in a more niche club.

Frankel said there should be an organization on campus, similar to the GLC, that focuses on neurodivergent activism within the university. But, at the moment, no neurodiversity-specific clubs exist on campus. 

In previous years, there were student chapters of Autism Speaks and Best Buddies, however, those organizations are controversial for suggesting autism is a harmful disease that needs to be cured and fostering an environment where volunteers become more like “helpers” rather than a peer to those with intellectual disabilities, respectively.

Regardless of the lack of neurodivergent-specific spaces on campus for autistic students, Trayner and Frankel emphasized the importance of their friendships and communities they have cultivated outside of academics.

The Social Lives of Autistic Elon Students

There are no neurodiversity-specific student clubs on campus and speakers brought to campus often are not neurodivergent. So, where do autistic students see themselves the most? Where are they most comfortable socializing?

For Frankel, it’s WSOE 89.3, the student-run radio station. 

Prior to arriving at Elon, Frankel was heavily involved in the DIY punk music scene in Baltimore, Maryland, including starting his own record label. He said music is one of the most important parts of his life.

He said he was excited by the concept of students having their own radio shows and playing their own music for Elon, Burlington and surrounding communities. Now, he is the general manager of the station, and has been since last January. He said WSOE is “exactly what was familiar about home.”

Trayner is also involved with WSOE, serving as the Podcast Director since the fall semester. They discovered WSOE through Frankel, but found that they clicked with the station at a Students for Peace and Justice event last year that WSOE was playing music at.

“I realized that college radio is evolving, like, people aren't necessarily listening to the radio as much anymore, but we're listening to podcasts, you know, we are listening to Spotify,” they said, “and college radio can be a place for social justice.” 

Meanwhile, Elon sophomore Maddie Milner spends much of her time in the dance department, whether she is attending her advanced ballet class three days a week or conducting multiple research projects in dance science. Most of Milner’s friends are in the dance department.

She used to major in dance performance, but decided to switch to dance science because she wanted to focus more on her research and it would still allow her to audition for performances if she wanted to. Milner has been dancing since she was a toddler.

“I’ve already planned that I'm going to do less shows, just because of the physical toll that it takes on me. I was like, you know,’I can't keep adding things, so if we're gonna have to take something away, this is what I would rather take away,’” Milner said. “Because, I mean, the important part of dance to me isn't the performance, it's the classes and the experience there. So, I don't feel like I'm losing anything.”

She plans to participate in four research projects during her time at Elon, one of which is looking at the prevalence of autism and ADHD in dancers. Milner hypothesizes that many dancers are neurodivergent like herself.

Frankel and Trayner are attracted to WSOE not only because they relate to their special interests, but because they’re surrounded by other neurodivergent individuals. Trayner endearingly described WSOE as a place of “freaks and weirdos,” and Frankel said the dim, cozy environment of WSOE frequently attracts neurodivergent students.

Frankel said WSOE caters to different niches within music, such as music technology, production and writing, which, in turn, cater to its neurodivergent members with specific interests. He further describes WSOE as a necessary “outcast space.”

“It gives you just a space that is very specific to your interest, and you can express it in, like, a way that doesn't feel weird or you feel like you're being judged," he said. "I feel like everyone here has their quirks, and I’m not saying neurodivergence seems like a quirk, but I'm saying everyone here has something."

Most of Frankel and Trayner’s friends, in general, are neurodivergent. Because of how much they love hanging out with their friends, Trayner said it can be hard for them to balance their academic life and social life. For them, meeting neurodivergent friends has allowed them to embrace their autism and ADHD more.

“There isn't this expectation, like, I don't have to perform when I'm with my friends that I've developed in college, like, we know each other,” Trayner said. “I'm not afraid to be blunt or direct and be misunderstood.”

Trayner also said spending a lot of time with friends is a sensory-seeking activity for them. Common sensory-seeking activities for autistic people include rocking back and forth, walking barefoot and even slamming their body into things. But any activity where the autistic person purposefully receives sensory input can count.

“I find that having even just, like, a late night chat with my friends is stimulating for me in a way that being alone isn't always,” Trayner said, “but there's also that conflicting, you know, autistic burnout, where I'm craving this social connection and I want to be with people twenty four seven, but really, my body needs me to process and digest and be alone for a little bit.”

Regardless, they said they are “flourishing” at Elon. This experience, alongside Milner and Frankel’s positive experiences at Elon, is “the rule rather than the exception,” according to Amy Gravino, autistic relationships coach at Rutgers University. Gravino added that this should be a more common experience amongst autistic college students.

But how can we get there?

How Elon University Can Further Support Autistic Students

To Gravino, visibility matters on a college campus. She said autistic students should be in visible roles on campus, just like how LGBTQ+ students, students of color and female students are. 

Visibility can manifest through hiring autistic students in visible on-campus jobs, like tour guides, or hosting autistic speakers who are open about their identity. This is a step towards integrating autistic students into the greater campus community, a goal that Gravino said is challenging and “still missing” from a lot of universities.

Gravino works towards visibility and integration of neurodivergent students through her work at the Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services, a community center open to both autistic and neurotypical students. There, she assists autistic students and students with ADHD in navigating their social lives on campus.

Within the center, there is a College Support Program (CSP) that helps neurodivergent students with their academics, social life, executive functioning and life skills. This program acts as a “bridge” for autistic students as they “learn to identify and access the community and support services of the University,” according to the Rutgers website. 

CSP coordinators meet with their respective students, learn their current needs and develop goals that will be checked in on weekly. Gravino said she wants this program to be expanded, but at the moment, funding the center is difficult.

Fordham University, one of Elon University’s peer institutions, has a program similar to Rutgers called Mentoring and Inspiring NeuroDivergent Students (MINDS). It is a pilot program on Fordham’s Rose Hill campus that helps neurodivergent students with social skills, advocacy and academic organization. 

The program hosts group meetings, one-on-one meetings and academic coaching sessions, as well as on and off-campus trips. A maximum of 10 participants can be part of the program.

Some neurodivergent centers and programs at college campuses have been in place for over a decade, such as at Adelphi University, where the Bridges to Adelphi program helps neurodivergent students from their transition into college all the way to when they land their first job. 

The program provides academic support and social support, but also vocational support, such as on-campus job opportunities, job interview help and paid summer internship opportunities. Additionally, the program holds training for faculty and staff on how to best accommodate autistic students.

Elon University does not have programs or a center dedicated solely to assisting neurodivergent students, but Disabilities Resources — soon to be renamed the Office of Academic Accommodations and Accessibility — works with neurodivergent students to acquire accommodations for them. 

Director of Disabilities Resources, Monica Isbell, said she helps autistic students with navigating their social lives on campus in addition to their academic accommodations. For example, she once helped a student find a club they were interested in, and then walked with them to the first meeting, “lessening their anxiety.”

She has also sat down with some neurodivergent students and reviewed which clubs and organizations they can join, where and when the clubs meet, and if she notices the student is experiencing “high levels of stress and anxiety,” she refers them to Counseling Services.

Milner and Frankel said that when they first arrived at Elon in their respective freshman years, they were overwhelmed with the number of clubs and organizations they could join. Milner did not end up taking on extracurriculars that were not related to her academics until a friend recommended she try out for a musical in her second semester at Elon.

“It wasn't like I was presented with all these options and I had to choose. It was just kind of like — it naturally happened,” she said.

In terms of academic accommodations, Trayner said their experience with getting accommodations and using them has been better than their friends’ experiences at other universities.

“I think it's because we're so focused on teaching, and when you're focused on teaching, you understand that people have different learning methods, and those learning methods are discovered and accommodated,” they said.

The most common accommodations for autistic students are extended time for tests, testing in a distraction-reduced environment, additional breaks during testing and class, noise-cancelling headphones and fidgets, Isbell said. One student she worked with would knit in class.

“Faculty members said, ‘she's knitting.’ I said, ‘Yes, she's knitting, but she's listening because she's answering every question you ask,’” Isbell said. “And so, that's just a way to keep her engaged and deal with any sensory or overstimulation that she may be experiencing.” 

In addition, autistic students can receive housing accommodations, where they live in a single dorm on campus. Isbell said the accommodation serves as a way for the student to decompress and “unmask” on their own, especially after the levels of social interaction that college often requires. Milner lives in one in the Global Neighborhood.

At Rutgers, there is a dorm building that only houses autistic students, similar to a Living Learning Community (LLC) at Elon. The building hosts community events for the residents. The most similar LLC at Elon is the Gender and Sexuality LLC, which takes up the entire Story building in the Colonnades neighborhood. LLC’s often house their residents for multiple years, beyond the required two.  

Isbell said Disabilities Resources has been talking about helping set up a student-run organization where neurodivergent students and neurotypical students can connect. Gravino had a similar idea for a neurodiversity club, comparing it to the Gay-Straight Alliance clubs found at many schools nationwide that facilitate dialogue between identities.

Milner and Trayner said they would join a neurodivergent club if one was offered. For Trayner, a neurodivergent club would be an opportunity to celebrate their identity rather than “pathologize” it.

“My neurodivergence makes me unique and strong in certain ways that other folks might not be,” Trayner said, “and I would really like to see a space on campus that celebrates that uniqueness, rather than just pathologizing it and trying to find solutions.”

At first, Frankel said he would join a neurodivergent club as long as it focused on activism and training faculty and staff. But he promptly changed his mind, saying he already “found his place.”

“I am comfortable where I'm at being neurodivergent on this campus and, like, I have my friends, I have WSOE, I have, like, other spaces on campus that, like, feel tailored to me,” he said.

Alexis Swider, Associate Director of Student Involvement at Elon University, echoed this sentiment in an email statement, saying while there are not any clubs dedicated to neurodiversity on campus, she acknowledges that many autistic students on campus have already found community in existing clubs and academic departments.

Swider emphasized “inclusivity, equity, and belonging” being at the core of Student Involvement’s mission, and welcomed the creation of a neurodiversity club in the fall 2025 semester.

At James Madison University, another one of Elon’s peer institutions, there is a student organization called the Neurodiversity Celebration Collaborative. The mission of this club is to destigmatize neurodiversity and mental health through “strategic research and advocacy.” They said they view mental health “as a continuum rather than a binary in which mental health is either achieved or not achieved.”

The club does not appear to be active anymore, with their webpage only referencing fall 2023 meetings. Gravino said, oftentimes, mental health and autism are associated with each other because of the debate over what autism is. Some people call it a disability, while some call it a developmental disorder, but Gravino said autism is not a mental illness.

“To think of autism as a mental illness is to think of it as something temporary, something that somebody can control,” she said. “But autism is not something that’s temporary, and it's not necessarily something someone can control. It’s part of who someone is, but people refuse to see that.” 

Gravino added that people are not seeing autism as a “culture” either, which is why she hasn’t observed as much of a community as she has with LGBTQ+ students and students of color.

Frankel also said a generational gap exists between students and university leaders regarding neurodivergence, especially because autism was not well known just 20 to 30 years ago.

“You know how everyone at a certain point realizes that a mom, a dad, an uncle or whatever, like, somewhere in their family there's someone who's very clearly neurodivergent, but was in a generation where that stuff wasn't diagnosed?” he said. “Like, it's great that now we're in a spot in the generation where that stuff is being officially diagnosed.”

The generational gap can make it difficult for university leaders to understand and work with the students on issues like neurodivergent representation, but the students featured in this project have some advice for the Elon community. Click the videos below to learn more, while also seeing how a typical day for them at Elon looks like:

Gravino said working towards learning more about neurodiverse inclusivity and how to accommodate students will ultimately benefit everybody, sometimes unexpectedly.

“Much in the same way that when curb cuts were introduced, they didn't just benefit people who use wheelchairs. Curb cuts benefited everybody: people with mobility challenges, people pushing strollers,” she said. “So, if we had either courses or some kind of, you know, center or something that focused around navigating the social elements of college, it would benefit everybody, not just autistic and neurodivergent students.”