College students with autism may be negatively impacted by lack of understanding about autism on college campuses. Thus, we developed an online training to improve knowledge and decrease stigma associated with autism among college students. Participants (N = 365) completed a pre-test, online training, and post-test. Women reported lower stigma towards autism than men. Participation in the training was associated with decreased stigma and increased knowledge about autism. Although participants exhibited relatively high baseline knowledge of autism, misconceptions were common, particularly in open-ended responses. Participants commonly confused autism with other disorders, such as learning disabilities. This study suggests that online training may be a cost-effective way to increase college students' understanding and acceptance of their peers with autism.

Highlights • Affordances, privacy concerns, gender, and age predict preferred social media site • Privacy concerns, trust, disclosure and site preference predict social capital • Facebook preference and being male predict bonding social capital • Facebook preference is associated with more privacy concerns and less self-disclosure • Instagram was the most trusted site, followed by Twitter, and then Facebook

Although misconceptions associated with ASD are apparent worldwide, they may differ across cultures. This study compares knowledge and stigma associated with ASD in a country with limited autism resources, Lebanon, and a country with substantial autism resources, the United States (US). College students in the US (N = 346) and Lebanon (N = 329) completed assessments of knowledge and stigma associated with ASD before and after an online ASD training. Although students in the US exhibited higher overall knowledge and lower stigma towards ASD, certain misconceptions were more apparent in the US than in Lebanon. Participation in the training was associated with decreased stigma and increased knowledge in both countries. Thus, online training may be useful for increasing understanding about ASD internationally.

An online survey compared the perceived benefits and preferred functions of computer-mediated communication of participants with (N  =  291) and without ASD (N  =  311). Participants with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) perceived benefits of computer-mediated communication in terms of increased comprehension and control over communication, access to similar others, and the opportunity to express their true selves. They enjoyed using the Internet to meet others more, and to maintain connections with friends and family less, than did participants without ASD. People with ASD enjoyed aspects of computer-mediated communication that may be associated with special interests or advocacy, such as blogging, more than did participants without ASD. This study suggests that people with ASD may use the Internet in qualitatively different ways from those without ASD. Suggestions for interventions are discussed.