Biden was "Horrific" for Autistic Students: Here's Why
Male students with Asperger’s and autism have been critically disadvantaged by the last four years of Biden's Title IX kangaroo courts, argues one disability rights lawyer. But thankfully, President Trump has a number of plans that might help fix this situation.
Lori Tucker is an educational law attorney in Massachusetts. She notably penned a series of op-eds for students with Asperger’s a few years ago, including “Preventing a Violation of College Sexual Misconduct Policies” and “What To Do If You Are Accused of Campus Sexual Misconduct.”
While Tucker launched her career as an attorney for K-12 students with disabilities, her attention shifted several years ago to campus Title IX trials.
In an interview with Tucker — the proud mother of an autistic son — highlighted numerous concerns with Title IX trials.
One of her major concerns is that students with autism are significantly more likely to inadvertently violate campus sexual misconduct policies. This is due to deficits in social skills and difficulty reading social cues, Tucker told Liberty Affair.
“Simply put, they often do not possess the needed skill set to realize how their behavior may be perceived by other people,” Tucker told me. University of New Mexico Professor Geoffrey Miller has highlighted a similar concern about campus speech codes.
For example, if a student with Asperger’s wants to date a woman, he may text or call her repeatedly asking to hang out. If she’s not interested, she might decline with an invented excuse such as “too much homework” instead of directly telling him she’s not interested.
In this type of case, a student with Asperger’s may be unable to sense the subtext, and may continue asking her out. He might even show up at her dorm. While well-intentioned, this behavior might be interpreted as harassment, and he might find himself under investigation. This is unfortunately a very common story.
“[The] complexity of the policies and proceedings could become overwhelming for a student on the spectrum,” explained Tucker. “They may not be comfortable advocating for themselves, so they will not ask for needed breaks or for questions to be repeated.”
“Additionally, many students with autism have sensory issues and processing issues which make it exceedingly difficult to sit for the long periods of time required during an investigation or hearing,” she added.
Many students with Asperger’s lack some of the organizational skills needed to defend themselves. Creating a defense includes efforts as compiling witnesses or exculpatory evidence, or drafting an appeal letter, Tucker added.
Even more worrisome, normal autistic behaviors may be misinterpreted by Title IX administrators. In fact, most of Title IX training involves attributing “negative connotations to behaviors which are quite common to autistic people,” explains Tucker.
Examples of this include failure to make eye contact, delay in providing answers during questioning, lack of emotion, and defensiveness or anger if the student feels they are being challenged.
The training of campus Title IX administrators often makes no concession for those on the autism spectrum, despite that anywhere from 10-20% of men are on it. Further, DOE under Biden did not not acknowledge any of the concerns that autistic students face in campus trials, even though they've been lobbied by certain nonprofits for years to do so.
What if Your Kid Gets Accused?
Tucker urges the parents of any college students on the autism spectrum to contact a lawyer if their child is accused. “Even a simple misunderstanding or seemingly innocent misbehavior can result in involvement in a Title IX proceeding,” she explained. “If an accusation arises, do not try to handle it on your own.”
There’s a lot of hard work involved in getting into college. “All of that hard work will be in jeopardy if your child has the misfortune of becoming involved in a campus sexual misconduct proceeding,” Tucker added.
Title IX Going Forward
The Department of Education (DOE) plays the top role in shaping how colleges handle allegations of sexual misconduct under Title IX. Under Biden, the DOE has issued guidance that overturns a number of guidelines that were intended to help give the accused the right to a fair trial.
The DOE under Biden broadened the scope of what schools can consider "harassment" or "sexual misconduct." Biden also changed the way that school officials investigate these claims. Further, the Biden administration insisted that colleges return to the "preponderance of the evidence" standard (commonly used in civil cases), which requires that a finding of responsibility is more likely than not.
This is a lower standard than the "preponderance of evidence" requirement that Trump initiated during his last term, and likely will do again in the future.
Biden also prevented falsely accused students from being able to testify in their own trials and to cross-examine witnesses. So when a falsely accused student tries to defend himself under Biden's rules, he cannot testify at his own "trial" and there may be no live "hearing" at all. This is especially of concern for young men with autism: they are the demographic that is often accused of sexual misconduct like stalking and harassing.
Time will tell if this issue is of the same priority to Trump as it was during his last election.
This report was brought to you by Toni Airaksinen, Senior Editor of Liberty Affair and a journalist based in Delray Beach, Florida. Follow her on Substack and on X @Toni_Airaksinen.
