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Autism and University/College

lrobinson17

New Member
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 :)
 
welcome to af.png
 
In Canada we have separate systems, I went to college as it was cheaper, living on a us going to for post secondary education at the same time seemed a bit of a stretch. Looking back I should have taken University. Out of the 6 of us 3 took college 3 university, to me college was relatively easy, just high school more specialized.
 
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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.
 
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 :)
when when I did did go to college I would have loved a robot that could speak for me I need 4D ,3D is alright but for me in particular my eyesight is very weak 3d would be the minimum also an app where I would get a virtual map of the college so I could see where I was going to instead of again somebody telling me which is not my natural language the same for tutorials and lectures the tutor would need to have virtual images so I could understand the lecture
 
I've gone through the process of being at a university,...have a career,...and am also a part-time instructor at a university.

(cool stuff)

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.


I had no idea you did all that. And thank you for making this clear. I agree; apps might not help the ASD-1 group that much.
 
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 found having autism created two factors that were big problem for me. First, being unable to socialize crippled my ability to be a student and participate in college life. It was a hindrance as an undergrad, but in grad school, the social requirement was nearly as important as the academics, and I was totally unable to succeed. The second was somewhat related, and best described as the expectation you already know how things are supposed to work without ever having been told. This learning curve seemed far steeper than the academic one.
Good luck creating an app for these.
 
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 :)
For me, as I’m not great with filling out forms for some reason, it was trying to fill the application forms to go to university. I also struggled with student finance (uk thing), and making phone calls. Despite having had support for my undergraduate, my masters was a fail. Barely any support from the people I was supposed to get help from. So I’d suggest more awareness from university staff.making things clear would have been great as I struggled to fill in the gaps. I managed but could have used that support in clarity.
 
I was just in a meeting with the college dean regarding this--what to do after college--and what @Shamar has mentioned is right; academia requires socialization.

We need community not so much apps. If apps are available to help, then that's swell. However, I've never seen a computer program capable of making any of this work.

Sorry you're getting roasted, Leah, it's mighty interesting that you even went here with the idea instead of trying to come up with another social media platform or fart generator or set of filters for pictures--but we're pretty capable humans & if there was an app that'd fix it, an autistic person would've invented it by now. There's no "app" for fluorescent light removal; there are glasses and there are hats. There's no "app" for finding a classroom without a noisy radiator--but there are always quiet rooms in the library where you can put on a stack of vinyl records and a pair of good headphones & slide off to music land in the company of Mahler and Tchaikovsky. (Yes we have a working turntable in the library here and yes it's the best thing ever.)

The trouble with being autistic in the colleges runs a lot deeper than anything that can be solved by A Product. I do not ordinarily put trust in Products when the problem is rooted in our own Humanity. (A good argument for better mental hygiene over constant therapy and pills; sanity and health shouldn't need a subscription. I'm not ready to pay extra for Existence Prime.)

I'm with Shamar and Owliet and others on this one. Executive functioning seems to be part of it.

Now--if you wanted to do a cool app--look into executive functioning and see if you can figure out a way to make that simpler. A sort of aide-memoire kind of app. Perhaps something that'd track how much time we spent socializing, studying, writing, talking, doing paperwork. But then a lot of folks will instead take up journaling with a pen & paper.
 
I am in agreement with others regarding ASD-1. I experienced minimal barriers attending universities, but found it difficult to take notes or to learn to type. However, I have an excellent memory, and discovered that I did not need to take notes. I am now 63, have a PhD, and still type with two fingers.
 
Hi! To echo a common sentiment here, I'm not sure an app is the right solution, especially given how broad we're defining the mission/goal, but that being said, ASAN has a guide Navigating College which provides a good general overview of the types of concerns that an autistic student may want to be aware of - it may be a helpful starting point if you haven't already read it.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies, really appreciate it. I am still new to this so if I get something wrong I do apologise and I appreciate the comments correcting me or giving me helpful insights! I will take all of these comments into consideration and continue to work to improve my idea.

Thanks again,
Leah:)
 

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