Help! My DD wants to study illustration at university but has chronic fatigue and is autistic and has Tourette’s too

[StormGazing]

Hi
My DD is ASD and has sensory processing disorder. We are very supportive of her going to university to study illustration but she’s struggling with burn out even doing 12 hours a week doing her BTEC in Hames Art. Has anyone had issues and managed higher education? I’ve suggested OU but she wants socialisation too as she’s awful at making friends sadly. I’ve suggested having socialisation at other things and studying at home to make sure she can attend, at college she’s probably 65% attendance even thought it’s only 12 hours a week over 3 afternoons. Any advice would be grateful - thank

Games Art now Hames lol

It might be worth speaking to the universities she's interested in about the support they offer. Many have teams to support differently abled, quieter study spaces, mentoring, flexible deadlines and other adjustments that can make a big difference.
The Open University is a great option for some, but if she's hoping for the social side of university too, it may be worth exploring whether a traditional course with the right support could still work. I'd be interested to hear from parents whose autistic children have been through university and what helped them manage the workload and avoid burnout.

My daughter (fibromyalgia and autism/adhd) dropped out in year 2. She’d worked herself into the ground in 6th form, with the classic perfectionist top of the class. Her uni wasn’t a good fit and she really struggled. However, she made some great friends and loved her uni city so now lives there.

Thanks for the replies, my DD really struggles with noise and people, I’ve worked at a uni most of my career and they’re the opposite to what she needs to be able to cope, but she’s very driven too, has burn out but still throws all the spoons she has into her work … we’re still exploring online options and think she’ll join clubs for the socialisation