P.A. / Care for autistic / ADHDer

CrimsonKite

Hi all,

I am diagnosed with autism level 1 (previously Asperger's) and am waiting for the results of my ADHD assessment. Currently I receive most of my support through university and live with my family in vacations. The problem is, I struggle to organise my time and care for my environment regardless of whether it's term time or not but my specialist autism mentor and study skills mentor (who helps with organisation in general too) support stops completely in the vacation, when I actually need it more because my environment is less structured. I think I could really benefit from having a P.A. / mentor who could help me organise myself and be less isolated but I don't know if this support exists? Others tend to perceive me as "high functioning" particularly as I am attending a very well known and respected university but the reality is, my academic strengths don't reflect how I function in the rest of my life (and my academics have plummetted with the lack of structure at university anyway).

I guess as a TLDR: is it possible to / how would one go about obtaining support as someone perceived as having low support needs?

Thanks for reading!
CrimsonKite

Alex_Alumni

Hello again @CrimsonKite thanks for taking the time to reach out today It's really helpful how well you've explained everything.

I'm really glad to hear you've got a support network that's working for you while you're at university, but I can see there's a gap in between terms where you feel as though you need more support.  

Have you spoken to your mentor at university about your feelings while on vacation? Perhaps chatting to them can help you come up with some strategies or tools to use to feel more organised and in control of things?

Can I ask if you're based in the UK? I know there are organisations which can help disabled people organise their own PA's for personal care independently, but I'm unsure if this covers exactly what you're after.

I wonder if counselling or a life coach might be an option, though ideally, it would need to be someone who understands or has lived experience of autism. It might even be something you could speak to your GP about. 

I hope you get the outcome you're hoping for with your ADHD assessment, please do let us know how that goes

If you feel we can help with anything else in the meantime, let us know.