Navigating Neurodivergence Beyond Primary & Secondary Education: What Support is Available
Finding out you are neurodivergent can cause many internal feelings—clarification, resolution, relief, and, for some, even overwhelming uncertainty.
Quite often, a side effect of striving high academically during our early years is learning to cope with the natural disappointment of failure and rejection. We are all unique, and so alongside our strengths, we have weaknesses - we cannot be perfect at everything.
It’s common for neurodivergent individuals to feel overwhelmed by simple tasks. This partly stems from the feeling that they must mask their neurodivergence to appear neurotypical. Despite individual achievements, current research still shows that many feel unable and ‘different from everyone else’.
However, many resources are available beyond primary & secondary education to help you feel more confident and able with your work. In higher education, universities will have dedicated student support services and disability funds, and most importantly, they have a legal duty to try to remove the barriers you could face because of a disability. Therefore, they must provide reasonable adjustments to help ensure you get the same access to education as other students.
Universities may conduct an internal assessment to determine if you require reasonable adjustments and sometimes offer monetary support to fund an additional formal and suitable evaluation. This can enable you to access external support, for instance, a Disabled Students’ Allowance. In terms of internal support, the adjustments you might get, yet by all means not limited to, could be notes and lectures before timetabled sessions, equipment or aids, one-to-one support, accessible rooms, exam adjustments, and/or extra time to submit assignments.
Via the Disabled Student’s Allowance (DSA), similar support can be provided, such as specialist equipment, for instance, a computer, and for the 2023-24 academic year, undergraduate and postgraduate students can get up to £26,291 a year for support. The type and amount of support you get depends on your individual needs instead of your household income, and you do not need to pay back the allowance summary.
If you are unsure where to go within your university to enquire about such support or an internal/external evaluation and there isn’t a dedicated student disability service, your course leader or tutor should be able to help and direct you to the appropriate contact.
It should also be noted that these adjustments and additional resources are available beyond higher education via Access to Work. The support you receive doesn’t have to stop upon graduation. Apprenticeships and traineeships also have the same legal duty and must make reasonable adjustments. According to the government website, anyone can ask for adjustments, but to have such legal rights, you have to be defined as ‘disabled’ under the Equality Act 2010. However, some organisations will not require formal evidence of a disability; you can request reasonable adjustments internally.
For most individuals, the process and knowledge of neurodivergence are subjective; your needs are unique. However, from conversations with those individuals who have found out they are neurodivergent in later life, there was a consensus that after assessment, they benefited from the knowledge and utilised the support available.
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Featured image courtesy of Susan Q Yin on Unsplash. No changes have been made to this image.
