AS/autism and University/College/School

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For people that have AS/autism and go to university/college/school - do you get any extra support?

I live in the suburbs of London and I go to University College London. I have AS and schizophrenia. I get loads of support and allowances for both the AS and schizophrenia, the main ones being having a full-time support worker from the NAS, a free taxi to and from university that I can use if I cannot travel on the underground and exam/coursework extensions and allowances like extra time, a room on my own in the exam, and a computer instead of handwriting. I also get income support and disability living allowance which are paid into my bank account from the government, totalling about £130 a week (as I am unable to work right now). I also have a freedom pass which gives me free travel on any public transport over the whole of London.

What do you have?

I do not have an official diagnosis (so I do not get anything) but I know that my university has a buddy system where you get someone who helps you with university life. I was not, however, particularly impressed with it (I volunteered for it but was turned down because I supposedly "did not take it seriously" and was too critical of the methods used).

I'm not too keen on 'buddy systems' either. My support worker is highly trained in ASDs and that is more suitable for me. What were the methods that they used?

The volunteer and the Autie would have regular meetings and conversations.

The methodology I was critical of was that they kept talking about what 'role' we, as volunteers, should have (parent, friend, teacher and doctor, I think the roles were) and they kept doing all kinds of nonsensical group exercises and the like. It seemed to be more about the volunteer than the Autie themselves, learning how to 'deal' with him rather than learning how to understand him. I never got into the full program, though, and I know there was stuff later that I didn't get in on. I found the prevalent attitude towards Auties to be very unkind, though, at least at that stage.

Also, the main thing I got in trouble for was that they asked for feedback in a ridiculous form: we had to answer five different questions with varying numbers of words, in a kind of Christmas tree idea (1-2-3-4-1). Since the person explaining it was talking about how this was a bit like a poem, I made mine rhyme. This made it a tad more difficult to understand than that of the others and caused them to think I wasn't taking it seriously. Because, clearly, if you take the trouble to make something rhyme and thus spend far more time on it than everyone else, you're not taking something seriously.

That sounds really useless of their methodology. As an aspie, I don't feel that I need to be 'dealt' with, I want to be understood, just as you said. That is a really ridiculous form indeed, I don't understand why they would do that.

At my school I get minimal accommodations such as a private exam room, and a request for the profs to take my disability into account when grading my participation and presentations. Aside from that, I do not really get anything, although if I am accepted through the loans this year (as the diagnosis is very new), then I should be getting an additional 2000$ a year that I do not have to pay back (for anything), and 8000$ available for things such as a computer, therapy services, any necessary equipment, etc.

Since my parents are both anti-diagnosis and my mom has been doing her best for the past 15 or so years to get me to "appear normal," regardless of whether I am or not, I only have an ADHD diagnosis, which my mom considers normal, so it is the only one she pursued. (Of course, most of my diagnosticians have suggested I be evaluated for other learning disabilities, including dysgraphia, face blindness, and NVLD, but aside from the dysgraphia (which has been diagnosed as motor apraxia), she has vehemently refused to acknowledge that that has ever happened. I also suspect she has determined that I have Asperger's from an early age, as she sent me to a social skills group that I hated for almost ten years that specialized in autism spectrum disorders without once telling me why.)

So I have been granted all of the ADHD and dysgraphia accomodations. I can take any test for "time and a half," which was designed to give me extra time to concentrate, but in practice I use it to spend more time making my letters clear if I have to hand-write something. I can use a test center-supplied computer to type essays if they are particularly long (which usually negates my need, but not my right, to time and a half). And because of the executive functioning deficiencies that are associated with ADHD, I can sign up for my classes early. I also had a clause in there that gave me automatic extensions on assignments, but I know myself well enough to determine that I work better when the due date is sooner, not later, and most of my professors are nice enough to give me small extensions if they see I am struggling and ask in advance. And there's something in there about either having a note-taker who the school pays a stipend to give me an extra copy of notes or to let me have my computer in non-computer classes. I chose the computer, because I am generally bad at studying from my notes anyway and terrible at studying from somebody else's.

My ex-roommate, who was diagnosed with Asperger's (which is cool, because we met by chance and I was the first friend of hers at my school to know because I am so familiar with the symptoms for which she occasionally apologized), gets double time on tests, housing accommodations (she can skip the housing lottery and be automatically placed in a single), extensions on assignments, early registration for classes, a computer in classes, and a few more "goodies" that she never used.

But I feel bad when I use accommodations, because I often don't need them. I'm smart enough to get through college on my own, but when I procrastinate or take on more work than I can reasonably handle, I'm compelled to use my accommodations to help me through. I guess it helps me manage my time, since I spend my weekends running two school clubs, which can each almost be as much work as a class.

SilverShoelaces, I'm sorry to hear that your mum wants you to be a "normal person" (whatever "normal" is). My mum was like that too (I moved into supported housing not just for mental health reasons but also because she was abusive and refused to accept me for who I am). My mum even toned down my Disabillity Living Allowance benefits so I ended up getting a rubbish rate and now I have to apply for a higher rate. Luckily she wasn't there when I applied for income support so I got the highest rate as I have been declared totally unable to participate in paid work.

I find that extra time helps me as I take longer to process questions sometimes, and I also hear voices, which means that sometimes I will not be able to work or think because its like trying to do an exam with the TV on, but luckily my meds help a bit so the voices aren't as bad as they used to be.

A lot of my allowances are for mental health reasons (i.e. not turning up at all to university in some occasions, meds making me tired so I get rest breaks in my exams etc), but I also have been made exempt from oral presentations in front of a group of people (this is more on the AS side of things) as I tend to go completely non-verbal if I stand up in front of a group like that, then I walk/run out of the classroom (this happened at school many times) and lose the ability to speak for about an hour. I am allowed to give presentations just in front of my tutor and my support worker (who is full-time).

I get £25,000 funded towards computer equipment, support worker, study skills tutor, free taxi service (I cannot travel on the Underground during the rush hour, otherwise I have a spectactular meltdown) etc per year, provided by the government.

I got accommodations when I was in college. I received extra time to complete tests and also took them in the disability center. Other than that, I never required any additional support.

SteelMaiden: I really didn't know you still posted here! Now, how odd is that?! I thought you disappeared yonks ago!

I've been in and out of hospital under various sections of the Mental Health Act....its been a hard battle but I think I am getting out of it now.

Does the US have an equivalent of Disabled Students Allowance that I get in the UK?

I have a similar dx to the OP, in that I have schizoaffective and Asperger's. I received quite a few accommodations from my university when I went to speak with the equity officer. Some of the accommodations include the library staff to scan books and articles for me and email the pages if I can't attend campus, longer assignment due dates, taking exams in a small room, alternative assessments for oral assessments, ability to negotiate with the unit coordinator if I miss workshops so I don't get penalised, longer library book loans...I think there's a few more, I forget.

I was certainly a much longer list than I had originally asked for!

I don't get anything directly because of my diagnoses - I'm not on a disability pension, for instance, because I'm seen as too "high functioning" [so, I'm looking for part-time work at the moment], and I don't think my university has anything directly for anyone with ASD. However, I think those accommodations will be pretty handy and good enough for now.

Thank you for posting, SmallFruitSong.

I think it is good when people with mental health problems etc are given lots of support - without my support I wouldn't be able to attend uni. I am not able to work (there is a huge list of why I can't work and I won't go into it here, but basically the nature of my schizophrenia means that it would be impossible at this time) so hence the benefits (I have no other income and without benefits I would be broke and homeless; I was homeless for 3 months at one point and my "address" was a psychiatric ward).

I am taking two deferred exams soon (chemistry 19/08 and statistics 30/08) and I am seriously worried that my symptoms will exacerbate. Already I have done things like bleach my hands and barricade my door, which now I realise were not logical things to do, but at the time I did it, it was different. I have had a couple of tests where I got 35% because I was literally hearing voices for the whole testing period. I don't know what to do.....

If I were you, I would be talking to the university and your treatment team about this and try and get your symptoms under control. I'm not sure with UK unis, but I think with AU unis, you can defer exams again or, at the discretion of the unit coordinator or the head of the school, find alternative methods of grading you [i.e. taking an average from the class scores]. Those might be options to explore, because I think, at the moment, you are going to be disadvantaged by your symptoms if you sit the exams.

I do understand how mental health issues can derail you. A few years back, I was in my Honours year studying Political Science. My first semester was fine and I was doing quite well. My second semester...well, mixed state + psychosis + doctors being clueless at the time and not recognising that I was totally batshit = end of my Honours attempt.

I'm back doing a Juris Doctor though, and since I'm much more aware of my episodes, I hope to prevent those sorts of divebombs.

I am seeing my psychiatrist on the 16th of August, but unfortunately I have been told that no medication will help me enough (I've even tried clozapine and that didn't help, and gave me horrendous side-effects and then withdrawal was worse). I will ask my psychiatrist about alternative grading, however the amount of allowances I've been given is huge, so I don't think they'll give me any more allowances. I am sorry to hear that your Honours degree went badly. I hope that you won't relapse badly again. I took two years out of education after school and before uni because I was in hospital 7 times in two years.