Having Autism and embracing the University Experience – Charlie Sun
Key facts and figures:
- People on the autism spectrum can experience different types of emotions and difficulties in everyday situations.
- More boys have been diagnosed with autism compared to girls.
- Currently, there are 700,000 autistic adults and children in Britain.[1]
- A report conducted in 2012, fewer people with autism would go on to further education.[2] However, in Britain, it has seen an increase with people who have autism entering further education.
- Dr Stephen Shore once said, ‘If you've met one individual with autism, you've met one individual with autism.’[3] It slows the diverse range of people with autism that is on the spectrum, and each different person will need their own specific needs.
Embracing the University Experience
Starting a new chapter in life can be seen as excitement and the desire to explore something new. Like all things new in our lives, I can be sure to say that there will be some form of nervousness and fear of the unknown. For people with autism, including myself, it gets slightly harder moving on to further education, due to the unknowns in the future. In particular, moving away from home for a long period can be challenging at times, yet the hustle and bustle of university life does take my mind off missing home, for example, working on assignments and helping out with SEDIC.
Going to university was always part of my plan, as my parents also went to university. I heard their stories when I was younger and it became a turning point in my life of wanting to go to university. Yet I didn’t know about autism being one of the causes that might be a bit difficult to embrace their version of ‘university experience.’ Nonetheless, it was still something I wanted to achieve and hope for.
Living with strangers was a first and I had difficulties adjusting. This was different to scout camps as I knew everyone. However, my scout leader said, ‘this might not happen again.’ One factor that began to impact my autism was moving in weekend on September 2019, with the car packed and ready to leave home. I was nervous on the way down to campus, but as soon as I arrived in my accommodation the feeling went away. The next part was meeting my course mates (now some of my closest friends), same with flatmates nervous to start with, afterwards, it was just like meeting my flatmates.
Living with autism can be difficult, especially with living far away from home. With that in mind, I am very lucky and grateful to have my closest friends that I have made here during my time at university and a few friends at home, that understands my needs and condition. Autism is a wide-range of different disorders, and everyone has different needs to accommodate their everyday situations. Yet at the same time, autism is a lifelong condition and some may need support for the majority of their lives as well. Sometimes I cannot cope with loud noises, smell and crowds, which can cause difficulties emotionally and physically.[4]
Fortunately, my condition is not a severe as some other people on the spectrum. However, some features I do need support for includes, people explaining things again to make decoding better and writing support for essays. Furthermore, it is important to point out that I can sometimes experience difficulties when there are larger crowds and noises, i.e., lecture theatres and busy supermarkets. One method that I was able to combat this challenge is to go to the shops at 7:30 am and sat nearer to the lecture, to avoid problems those problems.
I was enjoying first year as I was doing something that I enjoyed. This helped me to forget the past exam results and getting regretted by other universities. In particular, some of my favourite modules was in first year, since it broadened my knowledge in history that I have not learnt before, i.e., the Manga Charter and schools of historical thoughts. Meeting with my coursemates and enjoying the independence of university life was another aspect.
However, first year came to a sudden end in March 2020 (due to the coronavirus) and we had to travel home and complete classes remotely. In the beginning, online learning was difficult in the sense of looking through a computer screen for long periods, and without the interaction with friends and course mates. This started to become difficult and unsociable. Likely, being at home was great and my parents were extremely supportive, yet the idea of having ‘university experience’ started to disappear slightly.
My autism started to weigh down due to the fact the semester was not finished, and I still had assessments to complete. Without the support on campus (i.e., books from the library and discuss assessments with my friends), it became a stressful feeling before finishing my first year of university. Luckily, most resources were available through the library’s online database, and with great difficulty, I was able to complete my assessments. This was despite having experienced a few autistic breakdowns throughout the assessment period. Furthermore, lectures would be recorded for us to watch and listen to at any time. This is great for me as I was able to decode the lecture’s theme more easily and listen [the lecture] at my own pace.
On a brighter note, some sense of normality began to appear in my second year of university because ‘blended learning’ was to be introduced within my school. This has given me a form of normality of being back onto campus, with covid-restrictions being enforced and this helps my autism transition back to more ‘in-person activities.’
Additionally, having more in-person being brought back will be incredibly important because, it will enable me to have interactions with my tutors and peers in a more comfortable environment, compared to having a meeting over the computer. As well, this would help with any assessment preparation and ask questions more easily, plus the opportunity to meet and see my friends in person again after the halt in the first year.
Covid-19 was still an important factor in society in the latter part of 2020 and the first part of second year. We were once again told to travel home and revert to online learning. Yet again, this had an impact on my mental health and autism. I was not able to see my friends and course mates for a long period and get support from my tutors. Assessments can be a real struggle for me and other people with autism since it is slightly harder for me to decode what the assessment brief tells us and plan the assessment itself.[5]
Similarly, to the end of first year, the majority of my resources needed were available online and was able to complete the assessments, but going through another lockdown and online learning did affect my mental health more, compared to the March lockdown. Another setback (yet understandable to the pandemic) was the university decided to continue online learning for most courses in the spring semester of 2021. This, once again, caused my autism to be an issue as having limited interactions, apart from my flatmates, made the rest of the year more challenging.
Thankfully, all lectures continued to be pre-recorded and had one or two live lectures here and there. This again was able to help with my autism and assessments, since I was able to fully take notes in my dorm room without distractions and listen to the lecture word for word, which in turns helped me analyse the theme more easily. Additionally, by the time the semester had completed and restrictions started to ease, I was able to see my friends for the first time since 2020, which was a great relief for me to have the ‘university experience’ again.
As I have started my third and final year of university, I am excited to have a more ‘normal’ year at university, especially with much of the restrictions we saw in 2020 having been removed. Most importantly, in-person teaching is back to how it was before Covid (with the addition of mask wearing) and I can have more in-person interactions with my friends and course mates. This will definitely help my mental health and wellbeing and keep my autism in check more steadily.
Bibliography:
Fabri, Marc, Andrews, Penny C.S., Pukki, Heta K. Best practice for professionals supporting autistic students within or outside HE Institutions, (n.p. [Brussels?], 2013).
Gurbuz, Emine, Hanley, Mary, Riby Deborah M. ‘University Students with Autism: The Social and Academic Experiences of University in the UK,’ Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49 (2019), 617-631