INTERVIEW WITH JEMMA CROPPER 

 

What does your role involve?

I am a disability officer for autism, so my role mainly involves Mentoring, which is funded by disabled students allowance, certain students are allowed to have mentoring as part of their disability student allowance. That involves having meetings every week or every two weeks, talk to them about how things are going Time management time managements and general information and wellbeing.

 

Where do they place on the spectrum or is there a range?

There is a range; a lot of our students have Asperger’s, or high functioning autism. They have changed in terms of the diagnosis so you can’t be diagnosed with Asperger’s anymore, due changes to the spectrum.

 

How does University support the autistic students are there any special spaces?

In terms of the different campuses, Clifton has a well-being room, which is a chill-out room, Brachunhurst is quite spacious with lots of animals and is very quiet. City campus doesn’t have any designated spaces, but it is something we are trying to do, not just for students with autism, but also for students with social anxiety.

 

Are most autistic students studying at the Brakenhurst and Clifton campus?

Not necessarily, City and Brakenhurst are smaller. City campus is very busy and we are finding it difficult to find a dedicated space at city due how busy it is.

 

What are the main issues of architecture within the University for autistic studens?

Depends on and massively varies from student to student. Noise levels are probably the biggest issue, particularly in big buildings which are quite echoey and loud. Difficult to hear people due to noise levels very loud, in lecture theatres, not being able to see people or hear properly. In terms of architecture being quite open which looks very nice, but it's not easy to find space to yourself. Pavillion at Clifton, my opinion opposed to what students have said, but it is difficult to find space to yourself.

 

Are there any spaces autistic students find more comfortable?

Well being space at Clifton, very popular with a lot of students. Can go out there and just hang out. Used by the FEZ society, which is a society for students with anxiety and autism, they host coffee mornings and breakfast mornings in the space which has naturally become popular. Other than that, there is not any that I am aware of.

 

FEZ society just for autistic people?

Not just for autistic spectrum, social anxiety, and anxiety disorders. They do coffee mornings at the point in Clifton and in Newton as well, several events during the year.

 

How many autistic students are studying at Trent?

Don’t know the exact number but probably somewhere 100-200 students per year, maybe more. I see about seventeen in terms of mentoring and we have five other mentors who see between five and ten students each.

 

Universities specifically for autistic people

Not that I am aware of specifically, but universities run events for autistic people, coming into the new year and support groups, some universities have autism charters who run things specifically for autistic students

 

Do you work with other Universities to create spaces and events for autistic students?

Not necessarily no, but we do look at our service and other Universities to see what they are doing and see if we can try and include those to make sure we are offering as much as we can to our students.

 

Are the parents usually involved with the education of autistic students?

They can do, we work with the students if the student to, wants then yes, initially, especially in first-year partners tend to be involved in the education. But it is up to the student and what they prefer.

 

Especially with autistic children, security is an issue. Is that the same at Trent?

Some students live in halls some in studios, some in independent living. Generally, all independent so security isn't the main concern. But within the university, all mentoring rooms have a panic button for security reasons just in case anything happened. But this is more for the safety of the staff

 

The Autism Society has an autism-friendly award; they work with companies to make buildings to make them autism friendly. Part of the difficulty of working with existing buildings, companies and within the university is working within limitations and working with what you already have already. You can’t change the building and doing everything we would like to do and you have to work within the limitations. This award does kind of reflect that.  On the Autism Society website, a lot of theaters are registered, including the Theatre Royal here in Nottingham. They have autism friendly events, quiet shows, not too many people in one show and perhaps have chill out spaces as well.

 

In terms of architecture, working within the limitations is the main issue. We want inclusive environments, so all students can use different spaces and making sure that other students don’t feel excluded from certain spaces or that it doesn’t have, you want all students to feel welcome and part of it 

 

Can autistic students concentrate in lecture theatres, due to size and noise? How do they feel within lecture theatres?

Something we do is access statements, so when a student is sent to the school. Parts of access statements include recommendations, allowing students to have five minutes out of lecture theatres if they are feeling overwhelmed or uncomfortable. Sitting near the front of the lecture theatre where is it quieter so they can hear. Lecture notes before the lecture so they can have them out and help to them to concentrate. Recording devices so students record a lecture and can come back to what is said. Lecture capture is something that coming in which is very helpful as well. So yeah we do try and help students to feel comfortable and that is included in their access statements that they can have a break and that is okay