Students with Autism: Online Resources & Support

Important question! I would say the key thing is being willing to approach people. Of course, some of us prefer to keep our invisible disabilities secret, and while I respect people who make that choice, it does make it pretty much impossible to advocate for oneself. The largest single component of advocacy is being willing to approach professors, the college’s disability office, etc., and making your needs known. Even if you don’t think you will need accommodations, it might still be a good idea to make sure you are registered with the disability office, as this will allow accommodations to be implemented more quickly if you find yourself in a situation where you do need them. It might also be useful to have some understanding of how the college is structured and what organizations on the college campus could provide you with different kinds of support, as well as to know what legal rights to accommodation you have in your jurisdiction. In the US, this would mean knowing your rights under the ADA.

This is tricky. Parents face the dilemma of whether they should step in and smooth the path for their children, or take a step back – which might allow their children to learn more independence or it might cause them to stumble. I know this is hard. Unfortunately, right now, I’m concerned that many autistic kids aren’t expected to make a lot of decisions or advocate for themselves in childhood, and then suddenly in adulthood they have to be making the decisions and advocating for themselves without any experience in doing so! I think it would be better, on the one hand, if autistic kids had more practice making decisions and being more autonomous as children. On the other hand, I also think parents can play a vital role in supporting their adult autistic children in college, assuming of course that the student wants their parents involved. Basically, I believe the transition to independence needs to be more gradual: that it should start earlier and end later.

Schools should remember that their systems and structures are designed with the needs of neurotypical students in mind and that these systems and structures don’t necessarily work well for autistic people. The design of campus buildings can be an issue; many of us have sensory sensitivities that can make it difficult to function in crowded hallways and lecture halls, and universities should keep sensory needs in mind when designing new buildings.

There are also numerous unwritten expectations that neurotypical students are expected to just pick up on. It would help if more universities set up dedicated transition programs for new students so that these expectations can be taught. Universities should also make sure students can transition out of university into a job or into graduate school; many autistic students don’t realize (because the expectation is unwritten) that they should be getting volunteer or job experiences as well as succeeding in their classes. A work experience program for autistic students would be extremely helpful.

Finally, if at all possible, regular meetings with a university staff mentor who could help autistic students with time management and planning would be very useful.

I’ll also mention things I don’t think are quite as helpful. I don’t think social skills programs are that useful in college; I believe the best path to social success for autistic college students is to find the right social community, not to work on “social skills” that help us appear more neurotypical. I also think “peer mentorship” programs where a neurotypical peer is paid to befriend an autistic student need a little bit of rebranding. The very term “mentor” elevates the neurotypical above the autistic “mentee,” and in my view this idea that the autistic student is inferior is problematic. I don’t oppose the idea of these peer connections, but I dislike the assumptions behind the terminology. Lastly, I think it is quite unfair for colleges to charge autistic students extra for any of these programs; disability supports should be free.

Some autistic people are introverts, and some of us are extroverts, but regardless of exactly how much social connection we need, all of us need some level of social connection to others. At college, however, it can be difficult to find those social connections. You likely won’t find much social connection from others sitting next to you in classes; most social interaction in college takes place outside the classroom. It can be unstructured and difficult to navigate. However, one much more structured sort of interaction can come through organized clubs on campus, where you could find other students who share some of your interests. Some colleges even have clubs organized by and for autistic students.

First of all, you should think carefully about what college you want to attend! It can be hard to simultaneously transition from high school to college and to also move away from home. Many autistic students actually start at a community college, a local two-year program from which they might (if they want) transfer to a university later. This helps to stagger the transition into adulthood. I did something a little similar, which was to attend a four-year university in my hometown and then move away from home to attend graduate school, and that worked very well for me. As you think about these programs, it can be helpful to visit campuses and think about whether a particular school looks like a good fit for you: whether you can imagine yourself living there and thriving.

This depends on how much initiative and drive to succeed is shown by the autistic student, of course! If students are highly motivated to attend college and to succeed there, then family and educators should try to facilitate the student’s ambition by providing advice, guidance, reminders, and suggestions while letting the student take the lead. As I noted, it’s often helpful if students can continue to live at home and have some support with daily living.

If the student isn’t taking the lead or showing a clear sense of what they want to do, then family and educators should try to encourage the student to figure out what they want to do in adulthood and the path they could take to get there. This goal might change later, of course, but the point is that the student should be motivated to succeed.

If the autistic student still isn’t motivated after family and educators’ best efforts, then you should probably reconsider whether now is the right time for college. Maybe the autistic individual would rather get a job without attending college, or maybe they are experiencing some burnout and need more time to recover their mental health. Students need some drive and motivation to succeed at college.

Autistic burnout occurs when demands and stresses become too great. There are a lot of things we have to do that neurotypicals don’t. For example, many of us have to expend a huge amount of effort camouflaging our autism and trying to appear more normal, or coping with sensory overload, and so on. Research on autistic burnout is in its infancy, but it seems like all of these stressors can become too much and overload us, causing exhaustion and reducing our skills and abilities.

One important thing is to reduce unnecessary demands. For example, is it necessary to expend a huge amount of effort coping with a particular noise? Perhaps, if the noise in question is generated by hordes of students taking a class that you need to take to graduate (although even in this case there might be coping strategies that would help). But is it necessary to expend energy on coping with the loud noise of a party if you aren’t even enjoying the party? Probably not.

Furthermore, like I said, many of the pressures that autistics face are caused by neurotypicals not realizing how stressful certain things can be for autistics. Neurotypicals can help by having a little more empathy for the autistic perspective and adjusting their expectations.

Sometimes accommodations can help reduce unnecessary demands. Indeed, some disability offices allow disabled students to take a reduced course load while still officially counting as full-time students.

Overall, I think we need to adjust the amount of demands and stress we face until we reach an optimal level. We need to feel productive – we need to feel that we are contributing something – but we shouldn’t feel crushed by an excessive load.