Fresher's blog from an aspie :)

Hi

Thank you for writing this. I have autism and I am going to university in september. You have wrote some useful tips in here!
But can I ask how did people react to you saying that you have autism/aspergers (which?) I got bullied at college specificly because of haveing autism, and because the people knew about it. My tutor was good in year 1 and did some lessons about disabilities and just made sure autism was included. So when it started and I told him he was great and stopped it, also I stoped going to that lesson as it was all going to be group work with a group who were bullying me.
But, I had a different tutor in year 2, he was quite discriminatory and so they realised they could bully me again and he would do nothing. I also had problems with bullying on the college coach.
I dont mind being bullied, I just dont want all the hassle of trying to explain autism then to have people use it against me. if someone wants to bully me they could just do it like it was at school, when I did not know I had autism, they still found reasons to bully me.

Also, what was the event before you started like? My uni does one for people with any disability. I think it will be really strange to be in that kind of group. I have never been in a class that has another disabled person in, who needs/gets as much support as I have since I was diagnosed. So I suppose I wont be the different one, but I just cant imagine what will it be like?

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I haven't found anyone who I've told to use it against me. My diagnosis is aspergers. It's up to you who you tell about it anyways, so if you worry about how people react then its fine to not tell people, but I haven't found it an issue. The disability department at my uni has been really helpful, so hopefully they'll be at your uni too. The induction programme I found really useful, yours may be different but hopefully should be useful aswell. Sometimes it's nice being around others who have difficulties

Yes, the disability support seems good, ive had quite regular contact since about January. It just feels like nothing has progressed since june really and I start in 6 weeks!
I dont have a problem telling staff, even after the issues with my tutor this year staff kind of need to know. I just worry students are much meaner.
So you enjoyed the induction? What was it like, as in did you all go and do things together so you were just mixed randomly or was there some kind of system to the split e.g. all the subjects together, or the same disability together? Also, do you have any tips for it, like one thing you found usefull? Or something you wish you asked?

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It would probably be well advised to let key members of staff know, I wouldn't imagine that any would use it against you but if you think any begin to inform the disability support people. Students are unfortuantly more unpredictable. I haven't had any issues personally, so it really depends on how confortable you feel telling them, certainly don't feel like you have to .
My induction programme was specifically for people on the autism spectrum. We did things to help us learn where places are around campus and where the local store was and had talks from people such as security, accommodation and the student union. On the first day we even went bowling which was fun, even though I didn't like the coloured lights they used at the bowling alley but that's an issue anywhere I go. It was a nice introduction to the uni and gave me chance to get used to the uni before the majority of students arrived .

I thought that I'd try my best to give my account of my fresher's experience this year and thought it might be reasuring for other aspies like me, in particular next year, to hear how being a fresher is like for people like us .Anyways, my name's Jade and I am going to be moving into the university of Surrey a week on Thursday and will be studying biomedical sciences. Currently I am finding it hard to get excited about it, there's just too much to worry about. I know everyone goes on about how everyone is in the same boat but that is very difficult to tell yourself this when you know from experience that you've always found it much much harder than fellow peers to make friends and keep them, and considering that there has been moments in my life where I've had no friends I really don't want that to happen again as it gets so lonely, even when you have people around you knowing that they're not your friend.Currently my main worried are making friends, dealing with change in both place and routine, generalised worries about my course and in particular the practical elements and just generally dealing with new people. My university has a special induction for people with asperger's and I have all ready been up to meet the disability advisor at my uni which has helped slightly with the anxiety of things . Another worry of mine is whether or not my dsa equipment will be sorted out on time as I applied late through no fault of my own :/ .My packing is coming along nicely, just ordered a few new clothes and going out tomorrow to get a few bits hopefully, tick a few things of my list that I have made to try and make sure I don't forget anything, it's a very good idea to make a list especially if you're as forgetful as me.Hopefully I'll remember to update here, and hopefully people will find my experience useful .

I am hoping the disability support can tell all the other staff. Because I have no idea how to. I guess telling some students would be good, like those in my hall. They say to tell people about medical conditions and what to do (like diabetes, asthma, epilepsy) and autism seems kinda similar e.g. if I have a meltdown/shutdown remove whatever is the issue then give me time to recover. As I will be needing to tell them about asthma, and possibly some of my other medical conditions I partly can't understand why Im so worried with autism. Its just so much more complex, and also so less understood or accepted than medical conditions. Do you have any tips on telling people about it? like how to do it and what information is best to tell them? I'm quite none verbal really so this is a really big challenge. I am wondering about some kind of letter/leaflet that I could give to them with all the important information, also then I don't have to talk. Do you think this will work?

Your induction seems different to mine then. because mine is for any disabilities or medical conditions. I am hoping for more information soon about what will be happening in the 3 days. Those things all sound useful though so I will try to look for them. I have sensory issues with bowling, both the lights and the loud music they always play, but also the noise of the balls. I've not heard about bowling but there is some hints of a pizza and social time in halls.. which will be a problem as I cant eat pizza. (sensory issues again, too much textures and flavors together) Not that I want the social bit either though!

Also what was it like when all the other students arrived? I'm nervous about getting just about settled in 3 days then it all changing and being really busy and noisy.

Hello Jade! I hope you are enjoying university so far. Is everything ok?

If you find writing things down makes it easier then do that. Explain the things that you feel would be useful for them to know. I have another girl in my flat that has aspergers, she was actually the one who brought it up, but I'm not that bad at telling people. I don't always have a problem talking, in fact sometimes the complete opposite, I think people want a way to shut me up :P but I can have quite a lot of difficulties in new situations with new people, so telling people at the beginning and explaining was very hard. The disability people should notify the staff. At my uni I had a meeting with a disability advisor to discuss all arrangements that I would need and wrote up a learning support agreement (maybe called something different at your uni) which was sent to the department. My personal tutor now knows me quite well and what my issues are so if needed she informs any staff that needs to know when it is needed, for example I have difficulties in practicals so she'll always inform those that are carring out the practicals about my issues, I even have a word document that tells them what sort of things can happen and how they might notice that I'm having those issues before it gets to the point that I have a complete meltdown. I have problems with noise too, luckily at the bowling it wasn't too noisy, but it has caused me issues. At the beginning of freshers my department had this thing let us get to know each other and I had to leave after about 15 minutes because there was just too many people and too much noise. Noise can be a problem in practicals too.
over moving in weekend I found that they came in fairly evenly, so it shouldn't be like one minute its all quiet and the next theres loads of people. My flatmates were generally understanding. Even in freshers when I went to a comedy night with them (I had to where my tinted glasses throughout the show as there was a lot of light coming from the stage) they remembered that I like to sit near the end of the row near an exit as I like to be able to make a fast exit in case, which actually meant a lot to me that they remembered that, as it's something that most people don't think of normally. The comedy night was the only thing that I could force myself to go to. Everything else involved loud music :/

I wish I could talk too much!

I have a meeting with the disability adviser next week, to arrange my DSA and all that kind of things I imagine. What you have sounds like I had at college, and I was hoping for something similar at uni.
When you say practicals what do you mean? what course is it?
I don't want to go to any of freshers, but they asked about it in my DSA assessment so now It's recommended that I have to have support to go to all the events, so I think I will have to go to it all now

They all sound really nice and helpful. I hope people are like that for me.

I do biomedical sciences, so I have to do practicals (lab work). If you don't want to go to events you shouldn't be made. I always say that pushing yourself out of your confort zone isn't a bad thing, but pushing yourself to a meltown is different, and you are better aware of what you can and can't take than anyone else. You will probably discuss a lot about support available when you meet with the disability advisor. I hope the people at your uni are as nice and helpful as they have been at my uni, it really makes the world of difference when you struggle with things so much. I've found while being at uni that sometimes its the small things that make a lot of difference

I already realise small things make a massive help. Even just like well people that understand.
But like you say, I know best what things are bad for me to do. How do you get people to understand?

So, practical to you is in a lab? am I right thinking lab is like school science rooms? I think this is what is confusing me about this site. I do outdoor activities, so practical to me is like outside away from the uni doing something like kayaking, climbing, archery, sailing etc. So I have been confused so many times I have seen the word practical but only got one other person doing this subject. You have explained now.

It is hard to get someone to understand sometimes, especially when finding words to describe what you mean is very difficult. Some people are just better at understanding than others. I had to try to over come this issue when I had a group work in forst semester and had some isssues. I still don't think they believed me, it was like they couldn't understand how something could be that difficult. One problem was that theu tried to arrange who was doing what over message and I don't like messaging. I don't think they would ever understand to be honest.
Yeah, to me practicals means in the lab which is very similar to the science rooms in schools. Except at my uni they have up to 90 people in them, which can get very loud

I know what you mean-some people just dont understand. Do you have any thing to suggest that you have tried and helped?

Wow, science rooms were hard enough with 20-30 in the class. That sounds like a very hard place to be in. Do most subjects do this kind of thing? as I see it a lot.

Sometimes I try to give examples of things that have happened, like when I had to leave a practical because there were loads of timers going off every few seconds, but there's nothing that I found that I can say that makes people realise it is possible. Some people just have to realise that just because something doesn't effect them it doesn't mean that it can't effect someone else.
I honestly don't know how I cope with the labs sometimes. I often have to leave the room at least once to have a break from it all. They also last about 3 hours and it's difficult to be in there for half an hour sometimes! I usually try and stay in the practical, even if I have to take a back seat in it and mainly watch the others in my group. Each course and each uni are different, so the kinds of number of people you will have to have in a room will vary greatly, so it's hard to say.

I guess that's just a problem with autism. But, thanks for trying. Hopefully the disability support will help if there are any problems though.
I had that problem in college, that I just walked out of lessons a lot because it was too hard (like noisy, busy, don't understand or well anything really that means I cant cope in there) teachers had big issues and they tried to solve the problems. It helped but did not resolve it. I'm worried what will happen at uni, and like you say it's nearly impossible to know until I'm there, so I cant prepare.

I always make sure someone is aware that I may have issues and that I may need to leave if it gets too much. Lectures aren't so bad, but I can't take any notes in them, so I just use my recordings. There are even more people in my lectures, but of course they are quiet during the lecture so noise isn't so bad. It will be a case of learning as you go, by the end of first semester you should know what things cause you issues and what doesn't.

I cant take notes either. But I'm a really visual person so I am supposed to get sent presentations to print out and take there, because I don't think a recorder will help. (I got one at my first college for 1 lesson I was having issues in with the teacher who shouted at me a lot. But he would not let me record him so they never gave it to me and I just stopped going to the lesson)
What happens in the time when you are out of the lessons and miss things? Do you manage to catch up somehow?

In lectures I have my recordings and all the slide presentations are uploaded, so if I miss any of the lecture I can go through it all again in my own time where I can pause and rewind the recording so I can get everything. There's also recommended text books if I need to use them and sometimes I look on youtube to see if there are any useful videos that explain things really well

So if you need to leave a lesson, do you leave the recording machine in the room? Or are you just lucky enough to never need to leave lessons?
I always worry that while I'm out of the room I am missing something important. But I don't think recording would work for me because I struggle so much with listening at the speed people talk, and if there's no help visually like what's on the board I think it would be too hard so I don't have a recorder recommended.