Knowing the Word ‘Neurodiversity’ Does Not Lower Autism Stigma Among Turkish Students

Most university students training to become doctors and psychologists in Türkiye have heard of the term neurodiversity, but knowing the word does not appear to make them less stigmatizing toward autism, according to a new survey-based study published in BMC Medical Education. The research, conducted among 731 medical and psychology students, found that 63.1 percent of participants reported familiarity with the term, most often having encountered it through their university education. Yet this familiarity was associated with higher personal acceptance of autism while showing no association with lower scores on a general measure of stigma.

The study was carried out by Banu Kaymak, Rahime Duygu Temeltürk, Merve Cikili Uytun, Yağmur Özgür Karabıyıkoğlu, Sıla Kutlar Kapici, Rabia Enis, Nilüfer Yildiz Kismet, and Didem Behice Öztop, and was published on 24 October 2026 as an open-access research article. The authors note that the concept of neurodiversity has increasingly influenced discussions of autism in research, clinical practice, and public discourse, but that little is known about how the concept is understood during professional training. Because today’s students represent tomorrow’s clinicians and mental health professionals, their conceptualizations of autism may shape future experiences of autistic individuals across the lifespan, including adulthood.

Participants completed an anonymous online survey assessing familiarity with the term neurodiversity, conceptualizations of autism, emotional responses, and stigmatizing attitudes. Autism traits were measured using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ-TR), and stigma was assessed with a validated scale. The researchers examined group differences and multivariable associations using chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests, Mann–Whitney U tests, binary logistic regression, and multiple linear regression. Given the large number of exploratory comparisons, the Benjamini–Hochberg procedure was applied to control the false discovery rate.

The survey revealed clear patterns in who was familiar with the term. Familiarity was higher among psychology students than among medical students, higher among those in later training years, and higher among participants who self-identified as autistic. In the binary logistic regression analysis, disciplinary background, academic year, and self-identification as autistic were each independently associated with familiarity with neurodiversity.

Field of study also shaped how students conceptualized autism. Psychology students were more likely to conceptualize autism as diversity, whereas medical students more frequently endorsed biological etiologies and social-environmental explanations.

One of the more striking findings concerned emotional responses. When participants imagined themselves as autistic, the emotions evoked were predominantly negative, particularly sadness and anxiety. Sadness was independently associated with lower neurodiversity familiarity, meaning that students who knew the term less well reported more sadness when imagining an autistic self.

Attitudes toward cure showed a different pattern. Approximately 61 percent of participants endorsed seeking a cure for autism, and there were no significant differences in this endorsement by neurodiversity familiarity or by field of study. This finding held across both medical and psychology students, indicating that familiarity with neurodiversity terminology did not translate into a rejection of cure-oriented thinking among this sample.

The study’s conclusion is direct: familiarity with neurodiversity terminology was not associated with lower stigmatizing attitudes. The authors write that future intervention studies should examine whether educational approaches incorporating reflective, experiential, or contact-based components are more effective in promoting neurodiversity-aligned attitudes than terminological exposure alone. In other words, simply teaching students the vocabulary of neurodiversity may not be enough to change how they feel about and respond to autistic people.

As the authors note in the abstract, the study’s findings carry implications for professional training because students’ conceptualizations of autism may shape the experiences of autistic individuals across the lifespan.

Subject of Research: Familiarity with the concept of neurodiversity and its associations with autism conceptualization and stigmatizing attitudes among medical and psychology students in Türkiye.

Article Title: Familiarity with neurodiversity and its association with autism conceptualization and stigma among medical and psychology students in Türkiye

Article References: Kaymak, B., Temeltürk, R. D., Cikili Uytun, M., Karabıyıkoğlu, Y. Ö., Kapici, S. K., Enis, R., Kismet, N. Y., & Öztop, D. B. (2026). Familiarity with neurodiversity and its association with autism conceptualization and stigma among medical and psychology students in Türkiye. BMC Medical Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-10480-8

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12909-026-10480-8

Keywords: neurodiversity, autism, stigma, medical students, psychology students, Türkiye, survey study, medical education, Autism-Spectrum Quotient, conceptualization of autism, Familiarity, association