Ms Lisa Hanlon:

By way of context, for students who come to register with us, in terms of pre-entry and transition to college, TUS is part of the disability access route to education, DARE, scheme. Autism is one of 12 disability categories considered under DARE. Many students come in through the DARE scheme and others choose to directly disclose their disability to us. Irrespective of which way they come in, all students can expect the same level of support. The transition to college can be a challenging time for students, and especially so for autistic students. To support autistic students and to make the successful transition to college a less stressful experience, we offer supports, including pre-entry campus visits for students and we provide the Autism&Uni Toolkit on our website.

In terms of registering directly with the disability service once they are a student with us, a needs assessment is carried out with students to determine the level of supports they require. Most students avail of exam accommodations, including, for example, extra time for their exams, a smaller venue, their own room or a PC to type, rather than free writing. Other supports may be agreed upon based on the student’s needs, including the provision of a personal assistant and learning support that covers areas such as study skills, organisational skills and regular wellbeing check-ins.

In addition, autistic students can also benefit from sensory breaks where they can leave class when overwhelmed, informing lecturers of their needs, including notice that the student is sensitive to noise and wears ear defenders or recommendations to use campus quiet areas. Referrals to other support services such as counselling, academic tuition, pastoral care and access service are also commonplace for autistic students. Similarly, liaison with academic staff, department heads and the examination office is also necessary. These wraparound supports are individualised to each student.

Given all these factors, one might conclude that we are well positioned in the provision of supports specific to the needs of autistic students. However, we now wish to outline the challenges and barriers that prevent us from supporting students to the extent we would like. We will first look at our funding model. The ever-increasing number of autistic students means there is a growing imperative to explore how HEIs can respond to their needs in an efficient and inclusive way. Sometimes, it can feel as though our hands are tied, as we can be strained by limitations of the current funding, as detailed in our written submission document.

Some of the complexities and limitations to the funding include the nature of the funding makes it difficult to plan for the long term and can limit our ability to address complex and ongoing issues. Some funding involves a competitive process, where HEIs must compete for limited funding, which can lead to organisations focusing on meeting the requirements of the funding, rather than meeting the needs of the individuals that the funding is to serve. Project-based funding often requires significant administrative work, including grant applications, reporting and evaluation. This is time-consuming, it is costly for HEIs and it can take away from their ability to focus on the provision of services. There is limited flexibility because funding can come with specific requirements and restrictions, which can limit our flexibility in how we provide our services. This can make it difficult for us to adapt to the changing needs of our students and may not allow for innovation or creativity in the provisions.

There is also uncertainty. Our funding can be uncertain, with funding levels and durations being subject to change. This can make it difficult for us to plan and can create a sense of instability for staff and students. Our ability to support students for their full cycle of enrolment for three or four years is equally uncertain, given the time-bound exceptional project funding that is provided.

To address this, we have some recommendations. First, there should be a provision of a three-to-five-year comprehensive funding model. Second, there should be funding to provide appropriate supports for autistic students’ needs to be ring-fenced. Third, funding allocations should be adequate to employ specialised staff that ensures maximum impact for student engagement and support. Fourth, there should be increased autonomy for HEIs to use the funding to address the presenting students’ needs in our institutions rather than following absolute prescriptive qualification conditions and rules for the use of funding that may disqualify addressing genuine needs. Fifth, there should be the alignment of reporting periods to the academic year versus the annual year.

I will hand over to Dr. Bargary.