Back We spoke to an autistic student at the University of Southampton about their experience of meeting new people at the University. They shared some of their reflections about this, which we’ve embedded into this article.
Joining a society
The student we spoke to shared that meeting peers who were also autistic made things easier at University. There is a dedicated society as part of the University of Southampton Students’ Union (SUSU) called ‘Neurodiversity & Disability Society’. Read more about this society on the Students’ Union website.
It is also not just that society where you may find like-minded people. The Students’ Union offers a vast array of societies… one being a tea society!
Attending workshops
Student Disability and Inclusion offers specialist ‘Autism Matters’ workshops, that students both with a diagnosis of Autism and those awaiting a diagnosis, can sign up to. These workshops are facilitated by Specialist Practitioners and cover a wide range of topics. For example, some of the workshops provided in the past have included:
- Sleep Differences
- Careers
- Autism and ADHD
- Autism and Women
These workshops can be informative and can provide a way of meeting new people. Students that attend often create their own WhatsApp groups, if they wish to be part of that, to contact each other outside of the sessions!
Freshers Events
You will sometimes find that there will be autism-specific freshers/Neurodiversity events. Moreover, the Student Disability and Inclusion team host a wide range of events as part of our Transition Programme. These can include supported access to welcome weekend/SUSU events and this, again, can be a good way of meeting other people that may find transition quite overwhelming.
About the author
This article was co-created by Anna McCann and Beth Lawson (Faculty Liaison Leads, University of Southampton) and a University of Southampton student.