Friendly ND small universities

[Mangosorbetrocks]

Hi
Not sure of how to start my search but I’m looking for small neuro-diverse friendly universities, ideally campus universities please.
My DC is potentially interested in accounting/ Business Management degrees. Not RG unis, he doesn’t have the grades for those.
Any help or tips would be greatly received.

My DS is at Plymouth and we are incredibly impressed with the uni including support services. Plus being right on the sea with beautiful views in all directions from the Hoe is just incredibly uplifting.

Plymouth has been fantastic for my best friend's ND child. So proactive in all areas, study, personal life and accommodation.

On open days ask about attendance monitoring - if a student is struggling and so not attending how long will it take to be picked up

Yes, smaller classes would be great for my DC. But I'm aware that this is a big ask!

Thank you, I've added all of this to my list.

Thank you, I think that DC will definitely qualify for DSA.
I need to start searching for smaller universities. DC said that a campus uni would be best, and I agree.

That is such an important question and I didn't even consider it! Thank you very much.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to comment, advice and share your experiences. I am so pleased that I was brave in starting this post 😀
You have definitely got me thinking about areas/ issues that I didn't even consider. I've been collating a list of questions and information and will bear it in mind when going on open days.

Thank you again.

Good luck! And remember, your DS doesn’t need to go straight to university. A gap year of work/volunteering can be great to start to become independent. And also to decompress from the treadmill of exams, exams, exams that the system puts children through nowadays.

Not a gap yah travel fake volunteering gig, but ordinary work and/or volunteering locally.

Then he’ll be a little more prepared for coping with the independence of university life.

Royal Holloway were brilliant at supporting my relative with autism. Without their understanding and support he simply could not have completed his degree. This was >10 years ago now though.

I was diagnosed while at DMU - can't really fault the disability support team there (or my academic department - but they're not business related at all)... they have quite an active autism support team as well, although their social activities etc did very much tend toward the stereotypical autistic so didn't really fit my needs as a middle aged late diagnosed mature student!

Good and supportive team around the Library and other academic skills as well.

I don’t think MMD for BTEC would cut it at Royal Holloway.

As an academic whose DH works in support services in HE, I would recommend thinking about the following:

what aspects of the course does your DC think they might struggle with (might be group work, presentations, large lectures, etc.) - ask both the central disability services and the academic department what sort of reasonable adjustments they could support in that specific area (if the answer is very different between the two, it’s a sign that the working relationship between the two isn’t good, and that’s not a good thing)

what specific support do they provide ND students - particularly in the transition into HE. With my ND students, I have noticed such a difference if they do engage with the transition programmes offered by our support services.

What support with accommodation do they provide? Can they guarantee on campus accommodation (if that’s what your DC would prefer)? How is that accommodation managed - are there porters or wardens or RAs? DH spends a lot of his time helping ND students to navigate disputes with their flatmates, which can cause huge amounts of distress.

Are there (within affordability) options to live more ‘alone’ but in a campus environment - eg studios, or in smaller flats rather than big halls environments.

Is catered accommodation available? Is it any good? (open day tip - find out where catered students eat and if it’s open go and eat there. If they can’t get the food right on an open day, there’s no way it will be any good during term)

What training (if any) do they give teaching staff about ND? We get no formal training on teaching ND students at our institution and many of my colleagues have no idea about good practice (or willingness to learn about it).

Do they have dedicated career support available for disabled / ND students? Our careers adviser leading on this is amazing and has helped many of my former students land their dream jobs where they feel like they fit

Can they let you know what % of their ND students drop out vs. their Non ND counterparts. Unfortunately the former is likely to be higher but if it’s much much higher, it’s a sign they’re not doing a good job of supporting

DN is ND and was recommended De Montfort Uni by one of her A'Level Teachers as it has such a good reputation of looking after ND students.

They've hustled completed their first year and so far it's worked out well.

Newman university, Birmingham. Absolutely amazing.
https://www.newman.ac.uk/study/why-newman/student-support/

Winchester has been praised by a lot of my former students

I agree. It sounds really harsh but so true.
I don’t my child to always play catch up with the rest of his peers.

We visited Keele University which we loved. Also visited Worcester for its smaller size but DC just didn’t like it and couldn’t wait to leave!

It's good to cross one off your list tho @Mangosorbetrocks - this is one reason why visits are worthwhile.

Glad you liked Keele - that could be a great choice.

When it was founded, Keele - like Lancaster - was a place of real educational experimentation in trying to offer a more wholistic experience for students. Its compact campus and the way teaching and living accommodation is altogether (academics used to live on campus as well!), plus a more flexible curriculum, were really trailblazing. Hopefully some of that sense of community survives!