• Replies 4 replies
  • Subscribers 83 subscribers
  • Views 1177 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Universities ASD support

James H

Hi,

I recently got diagnosed with ASD and as the deadline for UCAS application fast approaches I was wondering if anyone here has recently been to or is currently studying at my uni options, and what they thought of how well support services were set up for students with ASD. I'm currently looking at: Cambridge, Edinburgh, Durham, Warwick and Nottingham.

From what I know so far I believe Cambridge has a lot of research going on but I don't know about actual support (I assume quite good since staff where my mum was working in the maths department told her a lot of the students were diagnosed and coping well.) I am unsure about the others besides minor details.

Thanks in advance if anyone has any info on how good these universities are for this!

  • Hi James H,

    Thank you for sharing this with our community. 

    Regarding university support, you may contact the disability officer or student well-being team in those universities. It's worth emailing them as a prospective student trying to get more information on this. 

    Thank you. I hope this helps.

    Best regards,

    Eunice Mod

  • in reply to Ann :)

    Your response was really helpful! I'm applying for Natural Sciences at Trinity, I'm a bit limited in scope since most students do two sciences but I am only doing physics (with maths and further maths, history as a fourth subject.) So having looked at the year 1 courses I think I would end up doing Materials Science, Earth Science and Physics, along with physical maths (those might not be the exact names it's off the top of my head.)

    I do live just outside Cambridge so I already know it's quite friendly from my experience going into sixth form. Although I can't stand travelling by train! Right now I'm working on preparation for the NSAA which is very soon, a lot of late GCSE / early A level content is on there which I forgot so it's frustrating to go back over things like recurring decimals and % multipliers when I am already having to cover the year 1 further maths book in about 5 weeks! (The way my college does it, I have already done a level maths in one year and now further maths with my other subjects for year 13.)

  • Hi! I'm autistic and I studied in Cambridge for my Bachelor and MPhil so I can maybe give some information on what Cambridge is like! I loved Cambridge, so much in fact that after a year away I am now back here to work and I am considering applying for a PhD in Cambridge. 

    I think Cambridge is very autistic friendly, though I don't have any other unis to compare it to. I am not sure what support the university provides as when I was studying I was not yet aware that I am autistic- I do have quite a few autistic friends though (which I also only found out when I realised I was autistic) who also studied here- I know that many of them actually had a prediagnosis assessment through the university disability resource centre: https://www.disability.admin.cam.ac.uk/ . You could contact them, they are super friendly and can probably be more helpful. Some of my friends had adjustments made to their exams (due to ADHD, dysbraxia, or other reasons) and from what I could tell that was quite easy to arrange and the university and colleges are very accomodating. 

    Irrespective of support available through the university I think Cambridge has a lot of features which make it a great place (at least for me): I felt like I fit in in Cambridge and I made friends for the first time there (I had none at school) - I met other people with similar interests that I connected to and I often say that 'Cambridge is full of aliens' (in a good way- I think of myself as an alien) so it is easier to fit in and find like-minded people. I also think the College system makes it easier to feel like you belong somewhere and it also offers an opportunity to meet people. Also 12% of the students in Cambridge are autistic (and that's only those that are diagnosed!)

    The academic environment in Cambridge was also very well suited to me- for my course there was a lot of flexibility and plenty of opportunity to explore whatever I was interested in which was great as I have a tendency to get fascinated by random topics. The supervision system is also nice (small group teachings with an expert in field). I also loved that there were a lot of societies/events related to my subject- so I loved going to scientific talks and I also met one of my best friends there. 

    Socially a big advantage is also that there are no hard feelings at all if you do not want to see someone for a few weeks- people regularly just disappear for a while upon which everyone just assumes that they have a lot of work and are just busy/ studying and in their room (or library)- I found this a huge relief as it was perfectly fine to just withdraw if I needed it and noone though much of it or was offended. 

    It's also perfectly fine if you do not drink or go out (I don't do any of those). If you do like that, there are also opportunities but I found that it was no issue at all to not want to do that. 

    The city itself is also very nice- it's relatively small. If you are in a central college you often have the opportunity to live extremely centrally which makes it easy to get around - I walked everywhere the first 2 years and later I occasionally cycled- but there are generally no huge commutes. There is a daily market which I loved. The only thing that I find overwhelming sometimes are the many tourists and it can get quite busy especially on weekends. But I got used to that and in the college itself, you are in peace. 

    I love the environment in Cambridge- I think especially the people are amazing and I made some very good friends. The city is great too and the university and academic environment was exactly what I wanted. After being away from Cambridge for a year and also through reading about other people's experiences on this forum, I've realised just how lucky I was to have studied in Cambridge and to now live there again! 

    Another of my autistic friends actually also referred to Cambridge as 'autistic friendly' though I guess everyone has different preferences. 

    I'm not sure if any of this is helpful- I am happy to answer any questions you have about Cambridge :)- out of curiosity what subject are you hoping to study? 

    Best, Ann 

  • I know this isn't perhaps what you are looking for, but it might be useful to contact these universities's disability support services and see what's on offer?