Megan hails University’s ‘amazing’ support for autistic students

The University of Huddersfield’s support for autistic students has won fulsome praise from 2024 graduate Megan Horner.

Hailing from Halifax, Megan was diagnosed with autism at 17 and while studying at New College in Huddersfield, she was alerted to how the University helps students to make adjustments around their learning, working, socialising and how they can have an improved voice in life on campus through the Students’ Union.

Now working as an activities coordinator for The Wilberforce Trust, which provides supported independent living for people with visual and hearing impairments, Megan says that the ’amazing’ level of help she had from day one at Huddersfield played a huge part in the next stage of her career.

First day on campus can be potentially daunting for any student, but Megan says that the Disability Services team eased her through it despite her anxieties.

“Huddersfield does this really amazing thing called a disability induction day, and now they do a separate autistic students induction day. I was a year or two ahead of the specific autism one, but I went to the disability induction day and it was amazing,” Megan says.

Discover more about the University's Disability Services team

"I got there a little bit late and I was really worried and stressed about that, but the support team were fantastic with me. They sat me down, they got me a hot drink, they calmed me down a bit and then it was talking to the people that provide support. That included people from the support teams and the Students’ Union, and meeting my disability advisor.

"The induction day because it was just so informative. One of the main reasons I chose Huddersfield was because I've heard from college how fantastic the disability, and specifically the autism support, was and that first day proved it to me. You do not have to attend the autism or disability induction day, but I was so glad that I did because it went so well.”

Disability advisors help students devise a Personal Learning Support Plan (PLSP), that is shared with teachers and course staff to clarify and explain requirements specific to each student. 

Academic support and bringing about meaningful change at the University

"One of the really fantastic pieces of support I could get was that my extensions weren't limited. I still have the two free extensions per year that I could get without any evidence, but then for other extensions if I needed them I could just use my PLSP as evidence.

"It explains how my autism affects me and how I may I need an extension. That was amazing for me and I think it's one of the major contributing things to how much I enjoyed university so much. When deadlines come up, I can feel so stressed about them that I don't even want to start and then it gets to a point where it's way too late. Whereas with those extensions in place, I was able to do the work to the best of my ability."

Megan also thrived in stints as an academic representative for the Business School and was the LGBTQ+ Network Lead, which led to her being shortlisted for the Targetjobs LGBTQ+ Undergraduate of the Year award in 2024. She is also particularly proud of how she helped change a University policy which now means that a preferred name, not necessarily a given birth name, will be use on all official University correspondence.

“I did a bit of research into University policy and I worked with them and other members of the Students’ Union to change this policy. So now if you have a preferred name, all official communications will be in that name. The only thing that will ever be in your birth name is your degree, which can't be helped because it's a legal document, but we managed to change things so that every single communication anyone ever gets from the University will be in their in their preferred name. For a lot of transgender people, it can be really distressing but I’m happy that we have worked with the University to change the policy.”

The unlikely scenario of the COVID-19 pandemic helped Megan change her direction while at Huddersfield New College.

“Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I did a lot of self-directed study which meant I could push myself a lot more,” adds Megan, who graduated with a 1:1 in Film Studies. “I'd kind of decided by that point that I was going to give university a try, but I'd been diagnosed with autism at 17 after years of struggle in secondary school.

“The support that I had in my second year of college, and the support that I'd heard that Huddersfield gave, really pushed me to apply to Huddersfield. It also meant that because I was local, I could commute in for my first year to figure out what was going on and if I liked it.”