Constantly changing information from my autism assessment centre and preparing for Uni

I am very frustrated and anxious and am wondering if anyone has any advice.

First off, I was referred for an autism assessment with the adult team pretty much as soon as I turned 18. I was actually referred first when I was 17 but due to waiting times I was rejected from the paediatric services and adult serviced don't accept referrals until you're actually 18. I also took a gap year and have a very early birthday so we're coming up to my two year anniversary of waiting, yay, I'm going to bake a cake to commemorate it.

July 2021 I had a triage appointment and was referred for full assessment. At that triage appointment I was told it would probably be by March and that they thought it was really important that I had a diagnosis before I went to uni. During that year I was given a social prescriber due to MH issues, who then proceeded to try and get me assessed by the MH team as I began to get worse and lose control. The MH team said that they thought my issues were due to autism, so I needed specialist support, but I can't get that without diagnosis, so I have to wait for the autism assessment (which at the time was thought to be a few months away) and they'll give me another assessment in a couple of months.

It was then March, and I hadn't heard anything, so I emailed the assessment centre. They now said that waiting lists were at least a year from triage (for a period of time they had literally no staff members able to do the family member interview, so no assessments got done and they got a massive backlog which they're now trying to clear) but that they thought they should be able to do it before I go to uni but couldn't promise.

I get another MH assessment. Once again, it's probably autism, not our area, we can't do anything, you may be at risk if you don't set up support with uni, discharged with a forward plan of 'access IAPT (which are ironically difficult to access. Only by a phone call from the person, which I am incapable of doing as phone calls are awful for me, especially initiating unplanned ones, and they have thus far ignored my social prescriber's referral) and await assessment'. In the meantime I contact uni saying I'm awaiting assessment but I don't know if it will be completed in time. They ask me to keep them updated. 

Finally, a couple of weeks ago. My mother, in the middle of dealing with my younger brother's assessment stuff too, decided she wanted to get an update from my autism assessment centre, and she can do phone calls, so I cuddled the dog on the floor while she rang them so I was around to give my consent for her to advocate for me and correct her when she got stuff wrong. New fun news, not only will my assessment definitely happen before going to uni, and no, there's no way to expedite it,  and even if it was, it still wouldn't happen before October (if that's quicker than normal, I'm alarmed about how long it'll take). Oh and I'll only get a maximum of two weeks notice and it will be in person so I am going to have to sort out that absence and journey quickly if it happens in term time. Not good for someone very reliant on pre-planning.

So, it's taking a while. And I knew it would. What I didn't know is that I would have the end point moved every time I enquired. I get that they can't be sure all the time, but currently I'm estimating an extension of at least 9-10 months from what original data I was given, and that's being optimistic. I've also discovered that my area's autism support centre, the same people to be assessing me, don't accept private diagnosis and require you to be reassessed in at least some capacity by them, so that isn't an option either. -insert frustrated scream here-

I would have had a completely different plan of action around accessing support if I known that there was no chance of a diagnosis before uni. I wouldn't have spent 12 months thinking that I'd be able to access autism specialist support and so I just needed to hold on until then for a start. 

Because I'm still waiting for this diagnosis, I also can't change GP to my university area. Which means while I'm at uni my support will be limited to any support the uni gives me, and crisis services. The local MH services here are progressively moving back away from online video conference or phone appointments, so getting help that way may be very difficult.

Now to the uni bit. My uni has been pretty good in that they haven't been outwardly hostile although they're certainly reluctant to give any information. They have said that they'd like to do a meeting in early September about it with their autism advisor to 'discuss options for support that may be available to you at the University while you await an assessment'. That sounds potentially very beneficial. I'd obviously prefer it happens earlier (I'm very much a planner) but it'll be 2/3 weeks before term starts, so that's something. 

Now for the help bit. I have no idea what I might be able to ask for at uni. As I've said, they've been extremely tight lipped on giving any information. Their websites (yes, plural) are a nightmare to navigate but having spent a year periodically browsing them I'm finding more information every time but there has been absolutely no examples of the non DSA funded help they can provide. Does anyone who has experience going to uni know anything that would be good to ask for? Or anything I should be aware of? I can't be the only person who is/has been in this position. 

Sorry for the very long post. Thanks for any advice you can give