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Autism and higher education

NAS75959
I am a mature age (40+) student recently diagnosed as on the spectrum. I sought diagnosis after seeing many similar characteristics as my two children who are also on the spectrum.
I have been struggling to make progress in my doctoral dissertation for several years and believe this may have something to do with my cognitive abilities. (I entered as a mature age professional and did not complete a dissertation previously i.e. at Master level, only coursework). In particular, I struggle with concepts and abstract thinking, including being 'creative' with ideas (in order to build a theoretical / conceptual framework for my study) ; I seem to be always looking for the 'truth' rather than understanding all writing in the social sciences are at best only theories. It is hard to explain. Does anyone have any experience with this?  Is there perhaps any literature or information on this issue that I can read and, more importantly, and advice I can obtain on whether this is a learning disability and how to overcome or workaround it?  Would love to hear of others' success stories that are relevant.
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  • The quest for truth seems quite normal for most of us. I wouldn't call it a disability, but I would call the system of education somewhat disabling - if that makes sense. 

    What I've found is, as a professional, I've hired other individuals to discuss things I might be reasoning through. Many times they will hear concepts and ideas that I assume are quite base as extraordinary. At the same time I might be thinking that another philosopher or psychoanalyst has already expressed this so it's nothing new. So then I somewhat consider I might be more akin to an archeologist or archivist, someone who has simply taken the time to hunt a thing down. Curious, is this what you mean by abstract thinking: https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/abstract-thinking

    Personally, I have found visualisation, or Picture-Thinking, is the best for abstract reasoning and leave my hyper-connected mind to it's function. From what I've read, this could come easier to many autistic individuals. But I needed to first sort through Trauma, which created blocks to the natural skills I had, to begin to recognise they were a bit wild and out of sorts (creating havoc instead of being useful). A bit like having nightmares or just randomly feeling assaulted by something unknown and becoming immediately reactionary. That 'unknown' element, won't be recognised until I spend a bit of uninterrupted and focused time learning to engage and discipline my senses. Or learning to engage and discipline my imagination. These are quite powerful tools. 

    I have difficulty writing and working with language. I triple check most things as I do enjoy well crafted essays or literature. But even writing this. I only started to feel a bit more proficient at written expression by 40 and even when helping my son with Uni, could not help him meet deadlines. Give me a few years for a topic and I might have something! 

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  • The quest for truth seems quite normal for most of us. I wouldn't call it a disability, but I would call the system of education somewhat disabling - if that makes sense. 

    What I've found is, as a professional, I've hired other individuals to discuss things I might be reasoning through. Many times they will hear concepts and ideas that I assume are quite base as extraordinary. At the same time I might be thinking that another philosopher or psychoanalyst has already expressed this so it's nothing new. So then I somewhat consider I might be more akin to an archeologist or archivist, someone who has simply taken the time to hunt a thing down. Curious, is this what you mean by abstract thinking: https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/abstract-thinking

    Personally, I have found visualisation, or Picture-Thinking, is the best for abstract reasoning and leave my hyper-connected mind to it's function. From what I've read, this could come easier to many autistic individuals. But I needed to first sort through Trauma, which created blocks to the natural skills I had, to begin to recognise they were a bit wild and out of sorts (creating havoc instead of being useful). A bit like having nightmares or just randomly feeling assaulted by something unknown and becoming immediately reactionary. That 'unknown' element, won't be recognised until I spend a bit of uninterrupted and focused time learning to engage and discipline my senses. Or learning to engage and discipline my imagination. These are quite powerful tools. 

    I have difficulty writing and working with language. I triple check most things as I do enjoy well crafted essays or literature. But even writing this. I only started to feel a bit more proficient at written expression by 40 and even when helping my son with Uni, could not help him meet deadlines. Give me a few years for a topic and I might have something! 

Children