Hello, I am not Autistic myself, but my brother is, though I have BPD (borderline personality disorder) and ADHD and was misdiagnosed with Autism, so have a bit of knowledge because of this. Please delete this post if it is inappropriate.
I have just been speaking to (one of?) the lady who helped this college get the Autism Accreditation they received 2 years ago. I will briefly explain my story, I have had many issues in the college as they appear to not understand ALN, specifically those brought on by mental illness and ADHD. Because of some things I have said, and despite endorsement from my mental health nurse, the college have decided to 'ask' me to leave.
The other case I have to propose is that my brother, who is a year younger than me, was applying to join their GCSE courses. He has a diagnosis of Autism and was told by the course tutor on the open day that he should instead apply to join an entry level course. It is to be noted that he has high functioning Autism and was diagnosed with Asperger's. He sat his two GCSEs after tutoring from a home tutor and, I believe, got a D grade in both because his additional needs (dyspraxia type symptoms) were not catered to. The college still decided that he could not sit the GCSE Access to A Level course because he had no GCSEs, but I think it was probably because he had Autism that they denied him entry (I was previously on a level 2 course with people who failed all their GCSEs, but they didn't have Autism).
In my case, the staff were not consistent with their help and communication and uploaded few written resources. The admin staff, who most won't have to deal with, were very 'airy fairy' with their words and were not direct enough (example: they asked me to leave college. I replied with: what if I say no and stay? They said that it was a question because if I wanted to stay, I could appeal it to their non-independent board). At one-point last year I was feeling very overwhelmed at college and the ALN staff cornered me and discussed locking me into the quiet room. I was told by the admin staff that if I want to come back next year I have to get better (I asked them to define what better would be given that BPD is chronic, and ADHD is lifelong and I'm in a much better place now than I was). I'm not looking for advice on how to deal with them because I've made the decision to attend another college next year, and of course I am not Autistic so would not like to make this about me.
I don't mean to be slanderous to the college and if this is seen as such I would appreciate any advice on rewording all of this. To summarise: I am asking others to share their experiences, negative or positive, with this college. Obviously, I won't be naming any members of staff as I'm sure I'm not allowed to do so, and I am only asking the question here because this society helped this organisation achieve their Autism Accreditation. It is worth noting that the member of staff that made this possible has left, I believe he left in Summer 2021.