The transition to college is a difficult time for any student, but being an unidentified autistic person made this transition exponentially harder. I started uncovering my identity as an autistic person during my freshman year of college, a process that came with a lot of shame, confusion, grief, and unanswered questions. Transitioning to college comes with new environments, changes in routine, so many new people, increased expectations of independence, and pressure from parents, professors, peers, and yourself to perform well. All of this took a substantial toll on my mental health, and I struggled immensely throughout the first few years of my undergraduate education. In the process of discovering my autism, getting diagnosed, and learning more about autism I uncovered a variety of tools along the way that were incredibly beneficial in allowing me to thrive in the college environment despite the challenges that being autistic imposed. I offer up these tools and advice to anyone who is transitioning to college, or currently in college in hopes that these tools will help you thrive and succeed in a college environment.
Self-Advocacy
One of the most important things that I learned from my undergraduate education was the importance of self-advocacy and advocating for your needs. A lot of people think that advocating means you must be open about your autism diagnosis, which actually isn’t the case. Advocacy can come in many different forms, and sometimes advocacy means allowing yourself to speak up when things are bothering you or listening to your needs and respecting your boundaries. You never have to disclose your autism diagnosis if you are not comfortable doing that. For me, everyday self-advocacy took the form of telling my peers that I needed to use sensory accommodations like earplugs when we visited loud places on campus like busy dining halls. This also took the form of having a discussion with my professors about my academic accommodations and letting them know that I often use fidget toys in class (this can also come in the form of an email if that feels more comfortable). It also simply meant respecting my needs and boundaries and listening to my needs when I was getting overwhelmed.
Self-advocacy can also come in more obvious forms, like joining an autism support group, which I found incredibly beneficial, or engaging in political advocacy work or neurodiversity-justice work. Check with your counseling center to see if they have an autism or neurodiversity support group and if there are any student organizations centered around autism. If there aren’t, you can always take the initiative to start an organization like founding a chapter of the Neurodiversity Alliance, or an Autistic Self Advocacy Network affiliate group on your campus.
Support Services and Academic Accommodations
Every university has some form of disability support services or accessibility office that students can register with to receive academic accommodations. I won’t go into vast detail about the process of registering for these kinds of services – ultimately it is up to you to decide if you want to register for these kinds of services and to contact your support office to find out the process of getting registered. I will say it will be very difficult to get accommodations specifically for autism without an official autism diagnosis. There is a loophole for this that I used before I was diagnosed – if you have another condition other than autism that you do have an official diagnosis for, register for disability services under this diagnosis. You may not be able to get all the same accommodations that you would if you had an official autism diagnosis, but you will at least be able to get some. I used my ADHD diagnosis to get accommodations before I was officially diagnosed with autism, and prior to being diagnosed with ADHD, I was receiving accommodations for a chronic health condition.
There are a variety of other support services on college campuses that you might be interested in accessing. These can include mentoring programs or transition programs specifically for autistic students. Check with your university disability office to see what they offer. There might also be services like a Career Center, Writing Center, Tutoring Center, or Research Center that are not specifically for autistic students but may be beneficial. Take full advantage of these services- they are often free and are incredibly useful. I regret not utilizing these services earlier in my college career.
Sam Fisher is an autistic undergraduate student studying psychology and sociology. Sam is very involved in autism research and advocacy and began researching autism shortly after being diagnosed. Sam’s research focuses on increasing mental health support services and resources for autistic college students. Sam hopes to get a PhD to pursue autism research as a career.
The post Succeeding in College as a Late-Diagnosed Autistic Person first appeared on Organization for Autism Research.
