An Autistic Student's Journey to College

Parents getting their children ready for college face many challenges. One of the many challenges is having to cope with the transition between high school and college. Another one is being socially and mentally prepared for a new lifestyle, and worrying about your child’s safety in this new environment. This is especially true if they have traveled far away from home. However, this transition takes a new route when you add the fact that your child is Autistic while on the challenging journey to college. This topic is important to me because it is a story about a family who’s drive was to not only deal with the mental illness their son suffered as a crutch for his future career goals, but to prepare themselves as a family to make sure their son gets an equal opportunity to pursue his education, just as if he was a normal child. In addition, this also shows importance to others because many people feel that autistic children are not readably capable of going forward in their lives unlike themselves, due to being mentally challenged.

The significance shown by the Diehl’s family is exemplary for their dedication many other families are struggling while dealing with this same situation should try to respond similarly. Roger Diehl just turned 18 years old back in May and has had many medical health problems in his childhood. He has suffered from clinical depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Asperger's, a form of autism. Depression is a medical illness while Asperg’s and ADHD are normal neurological and developmental disorders. Although these illnesses have taken a toll on him and his family, he has also been able to maintain being an “A” student, which leads him to being accepted to University of Wisconsin-Madison. While applying to colleges Roger did not try to hide his mental health problems. He even wrote about his illness in the National Merritt Scholarship in which he became a finalist. Roger’s teachers even wrote about his illness in their letters of recommendations. His applications proved to be successful because he was accepted to many colleges. A quote given by Roger "One of the greatest challenges I've overcome has been my autism."
When Roger chose to attend University of Wisconsin-Madison his family knew that he needed some kind of support attending a college far from home. One of the reasons the Diehl’s chose the University of Wisconsin over other colleges was because of the social support network in Madison. Meanwhile, Sita Diehl had no worries knowing that her extended family lives there so he would still be under some kind of care. The Diehl’s even decided that he would stay with his grandmother for a couple of years for two reasons: one being that his favorite cousin lived there also because he would already have a ready-made social system that would make the transition a little easier. Unlike many other families with autistic children, Sita Diehl kind of had the upper hand on experience while assisting families with children with mental illnesses. She worked as the executive director of Tennessee's National Alliance for Mental Illness, in Nashville, where her work with families there prepared her for Roger's move. She quoted "For many years, I've heard families talk about how their child was at the top of his class, and was just wonderful until he went off to college, and everything fell apart," she says. "And so I was determined that we were going to learn from experience." Sita also quoted "Whether or not it was something that Roger needed, we were going to build a bridge for a gradual launch, rather than just pushing him out of the nest. This journey had a great drive that really helped, thanks to her career because working hand and hand, day by day with children like your son and observing struggles of other families she encountered, she realized what she actually wanted for the betterment of her own seed.
Another issue at hand was that since her son was 18, he was a legal adult now and that her family could no longer partake in decisions he made about his medical illness, even though they knew he was subjected to depression and suicide. Therefore, with these stipulations placed on them they had to find some way to take action to be able to stay on top of their sons medical decisions. The Diehl’s found a psychiatrist and consulted a lawyer who gave them credible ideas so that they could still somehow be involved. His grandmother became his POA (power of attorney) watching his financial affairs and he signed the HIPAA (health insurance probability and accountability act) which still gave his parents the right to remain a part of his medical care. I think these were great ideas as a family to stay abreast to his medical concerns and needs.
Listening to various news resources on this subject makes me think highly of the Diehl family because many people view the idea of Asperger’s students attending college as not a good choice. An article from ABC News informs us of a family dealing with the same situation and their concerns about not what is going on in the classroom but what is going on outside of the classroom and that her child, being a very honest and trusting person does not understand why people lie and want be able to survive in the college atmosphere. The reporter went on to add , A decade ago the idea of Asperger's students who suffer mild and high functioning forms of autism that is characterized by social isolation working their way through a four-year college may have seemed impossible. Larry Powell, a manager of Disability Resources at Carnegie University, says that “the Asperger’s population is much bigger than we think it if we could put together a system that would adequately support these students, word would get around and more students would disclose it and would come.” He has an optimistic idea that we could initiate some kind of program to make this transition for autistic students upon attending college much more efficient. In USA Today an autistic student by the name of Dan Hackett stated that “some of his symptoms were holding him back, he had difficulty organizing his time and managing assignments” but when he discovered Achieving in Higher Education with Autism/Developmental Disabilities(AHEADD), a group that helps college students like him, he made a tremendous turn around in school which made his college experience much easier for him to manage and organize his time, which makes the above statement true from Mr. Powell. From Press Release a woman by the name of Susan Maxwell acts as a liaison for parents of children with autism throughout the Jensen Beach community, Maxwell helps parents cope with their child's diagnosis by sharing information about her now 9-year-old son, Matthew, and the progress he has made.Many students with Asperger's or other similar autism like disorders face new challenges in a college setting. The syndrome hampers communication and social skills, so along with difficulties staying on top of their studies, these students may struggle with making friends and living more independently. They also may be more reluctant to ask for help.
So with this said there are many different outlooks on how people feel about autistic children attending college, the views are more so positive because like the Diehl’s family you have to have courage and believe that your child still can achieve throughout their illness because settling or giving up on your child due to their condition, is not only hurting you but it also cripples that child even more by depriving them of living their life as any normal healthy child would.