Emma Wilson is a student who has Asperger’s Syndrome. In this blog she shares with us her experience of going to university and the opportunities this has brought her. Emma sees her Asperger’s as a great thing that has enabled her to achieve so much and we are really pleased to be able to share some of her story here. Please note the following blog post is a personal piece written by a guest blogger and does not necessarily represent the views of Scottish Autism.

Hello everyone. I am a student studying Law at university. I am really enjoying this course and have just started my third year but I will go into more detail about being at university later on in this blog.

Before I was at university I was a 999 emergency call handler. This job was really challenging at times but I really enjoyed the challenge as I enjoy challenges. This job required good communication skills and to some extent good listening skills. A good tactic I learned when I was doing this job was to repeat the service that was requested back to the caller before connecting to an emergency service, this tactic was highly encouraged during training.

I chose to study Law because a few years after I left school I decided that I wanted to study a business qualification at college. So I applied for NQ Business Administration, went for an interview and the person interviewing me said I was too qualified for NQ but would speak to the lecturer in charge of the HNC course to see if I could get a place on that course. I was granted a place on the HNC course. When law was scheduled to be on my timetable I was dreading it as I had been told that law is really hard to study, but I excelled at law I really understood it and therefore decided to pursue law as a career path.

There are so many opportunities that arise while being a university student. This summer, at the end of June, I had the opportunity to work with NASA. It was an amazing experience; I met a real astronaut and got his autograph too. I have emailed the organiser of the NASA experience to see if I can go on the waiting list to be an ambassador for next year.

During my second year of university there was a few problems that had arisen. I should mention because of my HNC in Business Administration and other qualifications that I already had I was accepted into university at second year so I did not study in first year. During my accountancy module it was very difficult to understand and when the lecturer was asked for clarification she would not explain it, therefore causing more difficulty, not just to myself but to other students as well. After four weeks of this I arranged a meeting with my personal tutor who managed to get us a new lecturer but unfortunately I still struggled and it wasn’t until two days before my accounting exam that I fully understood the module. However, I achieved a B2 in my final exam.

In conclusion I really enjoy being at university. I am excited to get back into my law course as law really fascinates me. It’s interesting and sometimes you can actually see what happens when laws and regulations change and how this impacts how things were before to how they are now. It is truly spectacular.

At Scottish Autism we understand the particular challenges that can face women and girls who are diagnosed with autism or Asperger’s Syndrome, which is why we are currently developing a new online support programme especially for women and girls who are on the spectrum. This will run similarly to Right Click, our comprehensive online support programme for parents and carers. The Women and Girls programme will provide valuable information that will address key health and wellbeing challenges, as well as providing practical advice on a range of issues. We will engage with, and involve, women and girls from the autism community and draw upon the expertise of a network of professionals to develop a range of videos and other support materials. You can find out more about this exciting new project by visiting our news page.