autism support at unis

would any autistic folk currently at uni be willing to share their experiences with me? i'd be going in for 2023 entry, but i'm not sure if uni will be right for me as i'm already scared of moving away from home and my support network, not being accepted, will my mental health deteriorate? for me i definitely need to be looking at unis with very good support for autistic students/mental health, but i also want to go to a uni with a good reputation for geography and sustainability as this is what i'm passionate about. i've been looking at the exeter penryn campus and it looks lovely, but it's very far from home so if i were to go there and struggle, i wouldn't have much support from people i know.

Reply 1

Em395

Hi. I am an autistic female and a current undergraduate student. I have been to two universities and both set up a good support system for me while I was studying there. The one I currently attend even supports me during the summer holidays due to the adjustment period. I had to apply through DSA but I beleive you can mention it when you move in to dorms or attend the wellbeing office when you attend. I was given a wellbeing officer (1 per week, 1 hr session) and an autism support mentor (1 hr per week) where I got advise on how to communicate with those I lived with among other things. I don't know which unis you have been looking at but the ones I have been to were Northampton and Derby.

If you are worried about conversing with your dorm mates or people misinterpreting you, there is an option I had where they could set up a meeting with you and those in your dorm to convey this. I didn't need to do this but heard it was rather successful when one of my friends wanted to outline their needs to those in their accommodation.

Regardless of where you go I would recommend that you stay in touch with those making up your social support network as it will help if you do struggle to adapt at first.

Hope this helps.

Reply 2

Durham Students

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

Hiya

I understand it can be stressful to start a new chapter of your life but be assured that your uni will be supportive in every way, that's true for Durham at least. Durham offers specialist autistic support for students who need it which helps make your transition to HE much easier constant support throughout your time at uni. This includes advice and support during your application to Durham, accommodation on campus for the entirety of your degree, counselling and mental health support, college and department wellbeing support, disability service which you can contact whenever you need, transition workshop which you attend a week prior to the actual induction week so you can settle in well, workshops and support from the careers team for transition to employment, peer support from the lovely Durham Students with Disabilities Association and much more. You can find out more here: https://www.dur.ac.uk/disability.support/students/prospective/asc/

Durham is a highly subscribed university for Geography and offers a lot of opportunities. The Durham University Geography Society, or DUGS, is one of the largest and oldest in the university and it organises events to all different tastes. It starts with a warm welcome to all freshers joining the department and continues through every year, from special guest speakers and career talks to hikes, barbeques on the beach and film nights. You can undertake a placement year between your penultimate and final year and this can even be abroad! Field trips, being taught by world-class academics and meeting some amazing people are a few of the attractive features of Durham's Geography course.

Here are a few links to follow:
Geography courses: BA Geography, BSc Geography
Geography facilities and student life: https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/geography/undergraduate-study/courses/
A day in the life of a Geography student at Durham
Field trip blogs: Arolla, Switzerland ; Portugal ; Tromso, Norway
Durham student blog on sustainability efforts: https://studentblog.webspace.durham.ac.uk/durham-student-aiming-to-impact-sustainability-policy/

Hope this was helpful :smile:

-Himieka

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 3

Phoenixfeather99

Hey.

Seriously look at Swansea. They are one of the only universities in the country with a specialist separate ASC team (most support at other unis comes from the well-being/disability department and so isn’t specialised). They will help you with loads of things, offer an induction day in August, help you with accommodation for the whole 3 years on campus. Help with exam arrangements and they run a group each week exclusively for autistic students, so you can meet other autistic course mates.
Swansea is also pretty good for Geography; and if I remember correctly from my coursemate who did geography, they have their own boat for fieldwork. Take a look and if you have any questions about Swansea or the ASC support just ask 😊

Reply 4

Interea

A lot of unis will offer transition support nowadays, although the format of this varies. At my old uni, it was mostly online information to read and the ability to move in a day early to allow me to settle before everyone else arrived, and at my current uni it was a full 2 week program of talks/tours/social events which was really helpful.

I've found living close-ish to home to be really beneficial, but I wouldn't make it a deal breaker if you find somewhere further from home that's perfect for you: you'd always be able to find a way home if you really needed to anyway. Quite often an autism diagnosis can allow you to access things like guaranteed en suite accommodation (and subsidies) or guaranteed on campus accommodation throughout your degree, so some of the worries about dealing with housing can be avoided.

Once you've found some unis where you like the look of the course, see if they have an autistic students' society you could contact. Both of my unis have had them, and my current uni has quite a few prospective students in our group chats. Reaching out to such societies can be a great way to find out more than just what the disability services advertise. They're also usually very accepting groups, so a great place to start building a new support network and friendships :smile:

If I'm honest, a lot of us have struggled with our mental health (unfortunately just the way things go sometimes with such a major change), but between us we've worked out the best way to navigate student support and access everything available, so these group chats are great for advice if you start struggling once you get to uni.

Finally, as has been said before, make sure you apply for DSA if you're eligible. You can access all kinds of support that you may not be aware of (most beneficial for me is a weekly mentoring session), so it's a really valuable resource.

autism support at unis

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you