Nineteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Current disabilities research have proposed using a social model or human rights model. Therefore removing the obstacles in the schools and society (such as prejudice and discrimination) that prevent growth and adjustment of people with disabilities should be the priority for researcher and educators. Among types of disabilities, autistic people or people with autism still receive a lot of misunderstanding and stigma. Past research have developed awareness programs to change people’s attitudes towards autistic people, however the results are mixed. The current study was based on the premise of the Contact Hypothesis developed by Gordon Allport, and utilized the concept of Human Library, which invites people with stories as “books” to share their experiences with the audience who are the “readers.” This study invited a duo of a real-life autistic young adult son and his father as “books” to share their life stories. A total of 106 college students were the participants. Qualitative written reflective pieces were collected to analyze their attitudes and feelings after listening to the story-telling. Preliminary analysis indicate that some feelings of discomfort of participants were evoked during and after the story-sharing, and empathic feelings and self-awareness might arise. It is concluded that, using the concept of human library, combining with first-person narratives, images, and videos, might help college students decrease prejudice towards autistic people and their families.