Autistic blogger shares university story for World Autism Awareness Day

Victoria Whiting (right)

An autistic blogger from Middleton is today sharing her university story, having recently completed her master’s degree, to mark World Autism Awareness Day (Thursday 2 April).

After she was diagnosed in early 2017, Victoria Whiting, also known as ‘Actually Aspling’, began her blog and started to inspire others living with the same condition.

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how people perceive the world and interact with others. Autistic people can have difficulties with every day social communication, social interaction, repetitive behaviours and sensory issues.

World Autism Awareness Week runs from 30 March to 5 April 2020, with the internationally recognised World Autism Awareness Day taking place on 2 April every year.

Having recently completed her master’s degree with a focus on autism research, Aspling is sharing her story of university education to inspire other autistic people.

She told Rochdale Online: “When I was younger, I never even thought about university. If I’m honest, I didn’t think I was smart enough.

“Throughout primary school I was delayed, messy handwriting and poor mathematical ability; for this I had extra one-to-one support. This support came in the form of tracing letters with my pencil, counting a variety of tokens and drawing various pictures of fish. On reflection, I can say that this extra help pushed me in the right direction, showing me that I can do anything if I try, a mantra I carry with me every day.

“High school was a nightmare for me: it was all new to me, new teachers, new classes and a whole new environment. I still found classes hard, but I had to deal with it on my own. At the time I didn’t have any sort of official label, so I wasn’t entitled to support.

“University is so different to high school and even college; it’s on a whole new level. A level where there’s mutual respect and understanding, alongside wonderful support during the academic journey. Smaller class sizes and extra tuition and enriching environments.  There’s a mutual want and drive to learn, something which motivated me and kept me focused.

“University gave me my passion, it allowed me to flourish and grow as a person, to show myself and the past that anything is possible, that I am capable, and so are you.”

Aspling was also recently nominated for a National Diversity for sharing her experiences for being autistic.