Hi everyone, my name is Leah and I am currently studying Product Design at university. As part of this I am researching the social, attitudinal and/or physical barriers autistic people may face at university or college. I am hoping to create an app which will help eliminate or reduce some of these barriers. However, I need your help and opinion on this. What are the main barriers you face at university or college? If you have been put of going or applying why? What would help change this? etc..
I would love to get your opinion on this idea, and thank you for taking time to read. Please feel free to comment!
Leah
I've gone through the process of being at a university,...have a career,...and am also a part-time instructor at a university.
1. As a student, I was very distracted/unfocused. I had such a "knowledge hunger" that I was interested in just about everything in the course catalog. I would have a lot of racing/intrusive thoughts, to the point where I couldn't study. I didn't have the social issues that some have,...I was never shy, as I was always surrounded by people, but obviously, I had some of the interpersonal skill deficits of a typical autistic. In retrospect, I think I was probably overstimulated to the point where I wasn't my best.
2. I spent most of my adulthood being a "failed neurotypical". I was always thought by others as the "smartest" or "most knowledgeable" but consistently was having difficulties with communicating with others. I would be passed over for promotions because of "how I deal with people",...which I never could get specifics from anyone. There's a scene from the latest Top Gun/Maverick movie where Tom Cruise is being interviewed,...the Admiral runs down a list of all the accomplishments of "Maverick", and says by now he should be a 3 star admiral,...and here he is,...captain. Sort of been my life,...a long list of accomplishments, being called the best by my peers,...and at no point have I been promoted.
3. As an instructor, I do have a different perspective when I am dealing with neurotypical and my autistic students. I can tell the difference and I tend to modify my approaches.
Barriers,...frankly, I am not sure there are necessarily
barriers for the ASD-1 group other than perhaps dealing with sensory overload, autistic burnout, being focused, and how to communicate well with others, especially all the non-verbal signaling. As a young person, you are asserting your independence from your parents for the first time,...and taking that intellectual pause to be self-aware of how your brain is functioning and how you are communicating might not be on your radar. I had zero idea about how specific supplements, specific diet and eating habits, how sleep, how exercise,...all of that,...can influence the functioning of the brain.
The ASD-2 group,...I don't have experience with that, so I will let someone else comment.
