One of my friends told me lots of kids in uni have AS

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I'm not entirely sure what he means by this.

I assume he means that lots of students are misdiagnosing themselves because they dislike social interaction, and it's quickly becoming a fad.

Why not ask your friend what he means?

I'm studying a one of the big ten universities, my college only has 30 people registered as autistic. Five of us are women. Then again, despite all my attempts to get through the system, it wasn't until my senior year that I was finally officially registered with them. I was diagnosed as autistic years ago. There is no way that there is only 30 autistic individuals at my university. Many go unnoticed or are turned away when they initially seek help. Fortunately, the trend is slowly changing.

Hello,

studying at a major university in Britain, I have been told the same while attending a session as the disability support (originally due to a major physical impairment of mine, but the discussion quickly switched to my issues with study skills etc.). Asperger's is said to be quite common, and if you're doing specialised research for a living it certainly can be an advantage; of course that both goes for students AND lecturers, fellows, supervisors, librarians etc. My uni really seems to be quite the "geek magnet"(both NT geeks and those on the spectrum of course), and that's not a bad thing at all, quite the contrary really. Hm, maybe all those posh Eton, Ardingley what-not public school educated types aren't being arrogant and insufferably posh (sorry for the stereotyping, please don't be offended) : they are just as socially awkward as many people there are!

The autistic stereotype does match with that of a uni student, for the most part we like acquiring knowledge, shy from conversation(well...personally I'm a raving eccentric but I never have real conversations) and the majority of what I've seen tells me we, as a community, are quite logical(case and point?)

I suppose it would make a lot of sense for there to be a large number of AS people in uni. I can say with absolute confidence that it's easier for an aspie to find work as an academic rather than competing for low end tertiary sector work(there is always someone stronger who doesn't ask as many questions).

It may be the case that university students have higher rates of asd then out side

I know many of the lectures do.

I've met multiple students at my university who have been diagnosed, without seeking them out. And those are just the people who felt comfortable mentioning it in casual conversation, usually without even knowing me particularly well let alone that I was autistic. No doubt I've met others who haven't said anything about it. (Hell, there are people who have mentioned that they're autistic, but who don't know I am.) And there is a not inconsiderable number of people who haven't said anything about it but who have immediately struck me as autistic as soon as I met them (an identification I did not make upon meeting most of the people I know have been actually diagnosed, some of whom actually have come off as quite neurotypical).

Those of us who are now in our late teens and 20s are, I suppose, the first generation which will have been diagnosed in relatively large numbers at a young age with some form of ASD even if we are "high functioning," especially with Asperger's having been added to the DSM in the early 1990s when we were young. So it is not surprising that a fair number of us have made it to university, whereas in the past we probably would still have been there, but just been considered odd or eccentric or such. (And I am sure there are undiagnosed people around, too.)

Of course we are still a relatively small minority, but if 1% of the students at my university have an ASD, that is still hundreds of people. And I suspect it is more than 1% honestly.

How many of you have suddenly discovered that you need good social skills when it comes to teamwork? How many of you have discovered that you will not be able to be part of a team when you get a job?

I know there's over 20 at my university (who've declared it). I doubt it's becoming a fad though. I mean why the hell would it? It's most likely that as a lot of aspies are diagnosed when they're older (i.e. late teens and 20's) you just get more of them at uni. Plus you have the mature students as well. At the Aspie group I went to on campus, most had been diagnosed when they were older. (So I'd agree with what invisiblespectrum said).

Also I'd say that there is less fear at uni about being "open" now when it comes to having AS. A lot more people now about it for a start and people are generally more mature at uni.

I suspect that the Aspies who are immature and lack social skills never go to an university...

I registered with the disability office at my uni and the disability officer told me there were 11 students diagnosed with aspergers in the college. I was surprised there were so few. I bet there are way more but most of them are either undiagnosed or not registered with the disability office. I only registered in my 3rd year.

I think there is a lot of truth to this. I was bad at school and stopped caring about it when I was about 14. I had fun being one of the main troublemakers in the school and was happy when I got expelled in 2nd year (8th grade). Only when I was about 18, I realised that I was really good at computer programming and had a passion for science related things. I decided I was gonna become a scientist so I got into university as a mature student and now I'm the top of my class. If I hadn't stumbled upon chemistry at around 18, I would have never had a reason to go to university. I wasn't so determined, I would have never made it through the 1st year of uni either because the curriculum is designed for linear, auditory thinkers. I, as a visual thinker, have to work much harder because I can't just memorise the lecture notes, I need to read lots of different articles, explanations, see pictures and watch videos in order to gain a profound, true understanding of the concepts. This works well but it takes me much longer than usual. The reason I registered with the disability office is so I can get the lecture slides from lecturers who refuse to give them out to the students. When I have the lecture slides, then I know exactly what concepts to learn so I'll sit in front of a computer and loads of information on the concepts and learn them myself. Sitting in a class, listening to a lecturer talk about the concepts is rarely enough for me to gain a profound understanding of the concepts they're talking about.

In my uni classes NT's seam to be less then 50% of the population but I am in a psychology class so I think 1 that attracts a lot of people with preexisting conditions and also we may have higher rates of diagnosis.

but yeah about 60% of my uni friends are on the spectrum have bi polar or depression or anxiety disorders.

and none of us do not at least know someone who is not a NT.

I think there is an illusion that there are many Aspies and people with ASD in Universities. The numbers that all of you are reporting are pretty spot on (though I question how you got those numbers as its illegal for Universities to freely hand that information out due to confidentiality issues. Unless they were lying.) It is a myth that you have more people in Universities with ASD than in public schools.

1) The drop-out rate for anyone registered as needing Special Education in a public school is over 25%. For those that didnt drop out, they are far more likely to not move on to undergraduate coursework. It is important to note that people who have the Autism label are less likely to drop out of public school but, are just as likely to not go to college as other peers in special education according to the USDoE. (There are many reasons for that statistic).

2) Of those that do graduate high school, only 50% of them graduate with a standard diploma or above. Students with Autism have the 3rd lowest rate of obtaining Standard Diplomas at 47.1%. (USDoE)

3) Drop-out rates for the first semester of college are higher for students with disabilities hovering around 40-50% range.

4) The number of students obtaining public school standard diplomas/certificates with any disability is droping (Based on USDoE hard data collection).


For students who are undiagnosed, these numbers are far worse (as various agencies do compile data on those diagnosed after. Just not the USDoE). I could continue on but, this is already a lot of reading.

tl;dl version:

Given current empirical data, the myth universities have more people with ASD on their campuses than public school as a percentage of student body is false and unfounded. It is by luck and common interests that you may find groups of these people hanging with each other at your local university Even then, some of those people may have ASD-like tendencies but, not actually have a disorder.