“…Whilst in the UK he will be entitled to specialist support in school, through an Autism team who will discreetly meet with him. Other pupils will not be informed of his diagnosis and if he meets with a professional from the autism team this will happen without alerting his peers. He will also be entitled to support through our specialist team who offer support with his social skills and with managing stress…” “…This should not affect his placement in his current school, rather it may serve to support it…” Things were better with recognition: I was able to get a teaching assistant to help me to with organisation, and they were the invigilators who sat with me my GCSEs and A-levels; I was gaining progress at school with the specialist help which I gained so much confidence, but only it was always crushed three times per year when I returned to my parents in Hong Kong during the school holidays. I was really interested in Mental Health as it really brought positive changes so I decided to study Psychology in University when we must make choices at A-levels. Of course, my parents still made that unrealistic goal of studying medicine as my autism “allows me to swallow a lot of knowledge” and psychology “may not secure a high-pay job” - very typical Asian parent thinking. They were only to support my decision after some persuasion from my teachers but not in full: they sent me to Exeter, which I never visited until going to university here, instead of Queens University Belfast, in a city I am more familiar with. My diagnosis still affected me until now: my parents still hopes that I will be “cured” of autism until very recently; But the positives are I started to make sense of myself, I learnt so much about myself in these supports I received, and I have a greater self-esteem. I am very glad that I am in the West, because that there are more support for SEND, and kinder employment laws compared with home where I may be very disadvantaged; I would say that stigma towards people with neurodivergence can be bad here but worst at home, alongside Mental Health problems, where accessing diagnosis and help is difficult and are very badly stigmatised. My working life was difficult as the job market was very competitive, but I am now work in the NHS, but I hope that I can go a few steps further to become that someone I wanted to be…
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