I originally replied to the october email newsletter about this 6th October, but got no response.
The newsletter has a section on how to apply for higher education, which is a link to the NAS website Living with autism - education and transition - further and higher education - University: choosing and applying. The home page also offers this as one of the four cycling options.
I'm concerned that while it may be well intentioned, it isn't really helpful. So I'm puzzled why they are flagging this up now, as if this is the site to look at when applying for higher education. It is certainly time to be thinking about enrolling on a course in September 2015 (the 2014-15 undergraduate programme being underway).
First of all choosing. Making informed choices that take account of any difficulties arising from being on the autistic spectrum is vital. So why refer the reader to standard websites (UCAS and go2uni) that don't have any autism content? They do go on to refer to Tony Attwood's Australian perspective on education and asperger foundation information sheets, but surely the point of offering a website coverage of applying to university is to provide helpful information directly.
One paragraph begins "if you are interested in or excel in using computers, you may want to study information technology". Unfortunately there is a real problem with students on the spectrum dropping out of IT courses midway or sooner. Interest or aptitude may not be enough, because these courses expect you to complete a broad range of IT skills. The danger, for people on the spectrum, is only being interested in certain aspects.
Similarly aptitude for numbers isn't a good reason for doing a mathematics degree which would usually be highly theoretical and abstract. There aren't degrees in Arithmetic though Accountancy may be appropriate.
This is the sort of advice that needs to be offered on a website addressing choosing a degree subject. Other difficult areas are the amount of labwork involved (smelly chemicals, things happening that may cause anxiety), courses hinged on seminars (group discussions and group projects rather than individual, giving presentations in front of others, talking shops etc), courses built around practical work and fieldwork, including travel overseas. Courses with a high work experience or work-based assessment component, for someone who has had difficulty getting work placements.
Some courses involve high technology/media based assessment, which may be good for some, tricky for others.
There is no attempt to look at the issues affecting choice, if you come from an autism background. I think NAS should be addressing this if they are offering advice on Higher Education courses.
Another aspect I was concerned about was disclosure of disability when applying. Regarding the UCAS application form they say "it is your choice whether or not to disclose information at this stage" and "disclosing your disability will hopefully mean that any additional support you require will be put in place".
The UCAS disabiility categories are vague and often confusing both to applicants and university staff, especially if you have more than one disability (eg aspergers plus dyslexia) it is tempting to put this in the multiple disabilities box.
It takes a while to process UCAS forms, whether admissions tutors go through them and access the individual codings, or student services produces a list, so they tend not to get seen until several weeks into the start of the course, especially so with subsidiary modules in another division, since such data tends to be processed by main subject. You might be doing English Language and a module from Music or Sport and Recreation - will the tutors for Music or Sport get that information quickly enough?
But they create a problem. Do tutors approach the student to ask about the disability? How many different tutors need to ask the same questions? Will all these different people be able to handle the information discretely? In reality many students assume what they disclosed on the UCAS form will get them support, often that doesn't happen. Mainly because all the different people who need to know aren't sure what to do. And it is not in the student's best interests to have this random, multiple interface.
Most universities try to centralise this with student services, but to do that the student needs to register and be assessed as to their needs. An added problem is that many universities have gone for the Social Model of Disability, which they interpret as meaning that providing extra time in exams, or coloured paper handouts, or wheelchair ramps is enough. This often means the lecturers and tutors don't get enough information.
So it is important to register with disability support and be pro-active in approaching tutors and lecturers about your disability needs rather than rely on UCAS.
NAS merely says it would be useful to contact student services about disability needs. They place too much emphasis on the UCAS form.
I've focussed on just two key issues. But a lot of the website information on applying to Higher Education is vague and under-informed. Some of their links are very dated, eg DIRCON.
My feeling is, if NAS are intending to offer an advice service on applying to university, they need to provide well-informed, cutting-edge information. I feel it is irresponsible of them to promote help pages that hardly go far enough.
But other respondents on here may disagree, and may have found the NAS web pages helpful. So please comment.
