Thinking Differently: Autistic Life in College

Today’s Washington Post profiles College Living Experience, which is a privately operated and for-profit program that helps college students with disabilities learn how to navigate college life, from taking care of personal care and an apartment or dorm room, to learning social skills. 20-year-old Laura Freeman has Asperger’s Syndrome and is in her third semester at Austin Community College in Texas; she is enrolled in CLE:

Freeman said the support has worked for her. The girl who earned spotty grades in high school finished a semester with mostly C’s and B’s and, in algebra, with an A, a grade she had never earned in math. Now she looks forward to returning to Maryland, possibly to a career in psychology.

“I knew I had to be away for college,” Freeman said. “To spread my wings, I had to leave home.”

I’ve previously posted on CLE here and here. An article in today’s Lowell Sun entitled Asperger’s is not autism-lite describes a group for autistic adults that meets on the campus of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell; the group is run by psychology professor Ashleigh Hiller:

Hillier’s group aims to fill in the gaps. The focus is practical — how to shop, cook, do wash, balance a checkbook, drive and take public transportation. But Hillier also offers emotional instruction: How to know whether someone likes you or not, how to make conversations with coworkers, how to interact with your professors, and what the difference is between kindness and sexual interest.

Hillier began the Asperger’s group five years ago with support from the Theodore Edson Parker Foundation. Participants, who come from all over, mostly with their parents, pay $150 for eight weeks.

On a recent evening, the five men and one woman in Hillier’s 18- to 30-year old group tackled issues without a hint of sheepishness or guile: How do you deal with difficult people while on the clock? How do you understand sarcasm? What if you get a bad review at work? Deal with a sarcastic co-worker? And what the heck about dating?

Like the kids that never fit in, many with Asperger’s learn life’s lessons in cruel ways.

And as more autistic kids grow up and move on from secondary school, there will be more programs like College Living Experience and Hiller’s group—and hopefully more successsful experiences in college like Laura Freeman’s.