Best Universities for Autistic DD with social anxiety. Looking for flexibility

[whatisgoingonandwhy]

Posting for traffic. DD has autism but is very bright academically. She struggled a lot in high school but has flown in her A levels as she is attending an online college. She would like to study psychology and work with autistic children in some capacity. Has recently started to make progress in socialising more but is extremely daunted at the prospect of having to attend classes. Are there any Uni’s that have the flexibility to attend classes in person or online, or any that are particularly supportive for those who are neurodivergent?

Disability rights

A wider conversation about the suitability of university for some young people is sorely needed
it now seems like a glorified sixth form and staging post to delay the inevitability of the grind and tedious realities of adulthood

As the parents of three autistic children who have been under various psychologists, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals, almost all of the meetings and appointments have been online.

@noisypipework

Yes, absolutely, but when it comes to essential elements of courses that can't be changed, you can't make everything accessible to everyone. That's where the 'reasonable' part of reasonable adjustments comes in.

When you've got students with severe social anxiety going to university and then refusing to take part in group work and presentations and so on, it becomes a real issue because they are unable to participate in the core elements of the course.

What is the university supposed to do?

It's a bit like training to become a teacher and then saying your autism makes it impossible for you to cope with more than 10 people in a room at a time. No school could reasonably meet those requirements.

Autistic ds24 started uni this year. He went to the local college - completely failed the first year, started a Btec, had a gap year, completed the L3 Btec which included loads of work experience - then spent most of a year doing an apprenticeship (as cheap labour) before starting Uni this year. So far so good.

Absolutely the best thing is to wait until they are ready.

With regards to support from the Uni for his autism, absolutely the best of any educational establishment so far because they treat us both like decent human beings which is really quite refreshing.

And a smaller, contained campus helps make it work.

There is a difference between education and certification. Education (at least in most social sciences or humanities contexts) at the university level may involve workshops, group projects, discussion-based seminars or even tutorials as well as lectures. Participating in the intellectual conversation is part of a good university experience. It's not just about taking notes from recorded lectures or doing assignments totally online. Do you think your daughter will be able to make the leap, OP?

I taught 535 secondary kids a weeks. We got 3 hours for prep and marking.

Still had to pick up all pastoral stuff and differentiate work.

Obviuosly lm not a lecturer, but universities need to move with the times. Why should they just say ‘we can’t’ when 8 weeks earlier teachers were bending over backwards to help the would be first year undergraduates?

The increase in SEND in schools over the last few years has been huge. Schools have HAD to do it with no funding. Lots of these kids are bright and academic. Why should they just be dropped when they go to uni?

HE has to adapt just like every other sector.

This is accessibilty though. They are just as entitled as anyone else. Why are their fees less important because they are ND?

Lancaster is very good at supporting ND and MH. However, I think you need to be reality testing with her now - she should be aiming for temporary support to help her attend in person classes, not looking at avoiding this totally. It would be really hard if she gets into a pattern of complete avoidance now and expects this in future as it wont set her up for the kind of work she wants to do.

But why should HE adapt ? It’s NOT school, its NOT for everyone (though the current funding model begs to differ) and people who stick around are there for the love of their subject and increasing knowledge, not to deal with a mental health crisis or people unable to speak in public or work in groups

No, they're not.

No one is 'entitled' to a university education.

Everyone is entitled to an education until the age of 18, by law, in the UK.

Past that age, education is a choice, and it is not designed to be suitable for everyone.

We can't make everything suitable for everyone. That's impossible. We have to be realistic about that.

Universities can and should do better at providing support for those students who can access their courses with reasonable adjustments.

However, there does also need to be recognition that for some students, because of their needs, university is simply not suitable at all, and never will be, and that's ok.

This seems like a continuation of the debate that pops up on MN from time to time about reasonable adjustments at work. There seems to be a confusion about what that means and for too many people it seems to mean getting to do whatever job they want to, however unable they are to do significant portions of it.

Not every job is for everyone. Not everyone is suitable to go to university. A lot of kids would benefit from time to mature before they go to university. And some may have to accept that their first career choice may not be a match for their skills.

Why shouldn’t it?

Workplaces have had to. What gives HE the right to discriminate against those you perceive as ‘unfit’ for university? It’s disgusting to talk like that.

Bath was found at fault as they didn’t adapt for the girl who killed herself. And in that academics thread there was so much horror at that report about how universities should predict, anticipate and pick up even with no notified disability. Just like workplaces and schools. Because it’s the law.

Mine is at York St John (has Autism) doing a psychology degree and the Uni has been brilliant! Loads of support and the potential to stay in halls for the 2nd year

Have a look at Liverpool Hope Uni.
Our DD has done really well there.

This is a really helpful post overall but I wanted to counter your suggestion that people with autism are not well placed to work as psychologists with vulnerable children etc. My daughter’s amazing, thoughtful and compassionate psychologist is herself autistic and the insight she brings to her role because of her own lived experience of autism is invaluable. It is a common misconception that struggles with social communication mean things like autistic people lacking empathy, but this is based in prejudiced and outdated thinking.

This really isn’t the gotcha you think it is. It’s so wrong that teachers are forced to act as social workers and counsellors because of a lack of funding and resources. They’re leaving the profession in droves because of the never ending demands put on them that are actually completely outwith their remit.

I’d suggest any attempt at trying to adopt this model in universities will have the same result.

I think someone who needs so much support to finish the degree that it is the support workers essentially doing the assignment probably shouldn’t be at uni
someone who maintains they can’t do the group work, assessments, assignments or projects everyone else on the course is (possibly struggling to complete) shouldn’t be at uni or at least on that course
theres reasonable adjustments and then there is being deluded

It probably will. l agree.

But the law is the law as it stands.

Absolutely.

I think it might be a bit different for Maths. I know of someone who did that at Oxbridge and went in only for tutorials, doing everything else from home. He did great job and graduated with good results. That was not a career path that required face-2-face working and the university respected that he had the talent in the places that mattered.

I suppose if you look at people like Stephen Hawking, he also had tremendous academic ability but also significant support needs.

The question is how can universities reach these youngsters who may actually have genius, but maybe can't deal with the other stuff.

If the answer is the open university, then maybe we need to prepare ourselves for the OU shooting up the rankings very abruptly in the coming years, while other universities are going to miss out on all this talent.

Ok, so let’s just decimate universities and the lives and work of lecturers because some people have chosen to be in environments they’re unsuited to. Great plan.

Horses for courses (pun kinda intended)

But they aren’t unsuited. They have the brains and the ability. They just have a disability. The world doesn’t revolve on presentations and group work. Have you read The Power of Quiet?’

Should they just not go because people cba to adjust? The government wants them in work. They need qualifications for that.

A lecturer on the whole deals with young and often vulnurable adults. But they can’t possibly adjust anything. It’s downright discrimination. If you offer a place then l guess you deal with the ramifications of it. You can’t just say no not doing that. All other workplaces have to deal with it.

Open university? However maybe living at home but branching out a bit to your local university would be best to help her build more skills.