BACK TO CONTENTS 14 UNITE STUDENTS | MEETING THE NEEDS OF NEURODIVERGENT STUDENTS FOCUS GROUP FINDINGS Although the students were able to articulate their support needs, they consistently expressed concern about whether these needs were – and would be seen by others as – reasonable and valid. I think it’s just that idea of being taken seriously. Just because you can’t see something, just because it’s not something more... It’s how we interpret and experience the world around us. It’s going to be different to others. The hidden nature of their disability gave rise to concerns that others wouldn’t understand their needs. ...that feeling of being an issue, being a problem. Getting in the way and it gets to the point... where I almost don’t want to ask for things I need. In some cases this was based on experience. While university disability teams had expertise in neurodivergence and were able to offer support, other staff members including accommodation maintenance operatives did not always have this level of awareness. I’ve been called one of the problematic students because of my chronic illnesses and my access needs. That doesn’t make me a problematic student. That just makes me somebody who wants to study at a university and needs more help to do that. We’re an asset, not a problem. Support and accommodations are available for neurodivergent students, but they could be enhanced further by bringing all the information together in a single document. Some students found it very difficult to process information that came to them at different times and from different sources, and had initially been confused when the university operated as a collection of separate departments rather than a single entity. In addition to these processing issues, they spoke about having to follow up multiple aspects of their support and the impact of having to navigate an unfamiliar system. I’ve found the hardest thing for the first couple of months at both universities... was trying to set everything up. There’s great long lists of what the university might offer or what you might get funding for or where you can get support, but my experience of it both times round, even when I know what to do, I have to fight for every single one of them, and then try and work out how the hell to put any of it in place because I don’t understand how any of the systems work... Along with trying to live in a new place and meet people, I’m also feeling like I’m working a very complex admin job and an advocacy job, and trying not to have a meltdown constantly. Many of the students struggled with administration in general and would welcome some additional support in this area. SUPPORT NEEDS