Navigating College with Autism: The Importance of Advocating for Yourself

I cannot even begin to tell you how imperative it is to advocate for yourself in college, especially for students with disabilities. College is not like High School where teachers and support facilitators are constantly checking up on how you’re doing. In college you are completely on your own. Basically I saved myself just very recently by advocating for myself.

I was academically misplaced into the wrong math class. I knew something was up because the material was extremely difficult for me, right from the get-go. I was placed into Elementary Algebra when really I was supposed to be in a class called MAT002, which is a prerequisite to Elementary Algebra. I went directly to my disability services specialist and I told her that I was really struggling and falling behind in that class. She promptly looked up my test scores and realized that they placed me into a higher level class. If I had not scheduled an appointment to talk with her about my struggles in this course, the consequences could have been big. By speaking up for myself, I got switched into the correct class for next semester. In conclusion, people are always willing to help you in college as long as you are willing to speak up for yourself.