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Other forms of impairment

Autism Spectrum Disorder - Experience Report of a Graduate of the University of Cologne

I completed my Master's degree in Economics at the University of Cologne last year. For me, this degree was a very long and difficult process, my number of semesters was "beyond good and evil" at the end.

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For most of my studies, I was not aware that I belonged to the group of students with disabilities. The content of my studies, my self-organization and the whole life around it were very exhausting for me. I often struggled to get to university and through its demands, only to be relieved later in the day when I was allowed to be alone and to myself again. I kept withdrawing very strongly from everything, both from requirements and from people. It was only in the course of a longer interruption of my studies that I got to the bottom of my difficulties and received an autism diagnosis at the University Hospital in Cologne, after which a severe disability was recognized.
Autism manifests itself in very different ways and is invisible to the outside world. In my case, it explains my states of exhaustion caused by too many external stimuli, my different style of perception and the fact that I often find it regrettably difficult to feel connected to other people.

When I re-entered my studies, I got in touch with the Service Center Inclusion (SZI), where I received support over a long period of time. It took several attempts before, with the help of very good and constructive support from the professor in the master's thesis, an understanding examination office, the supportive security of the advisor from the SZI and, finally, the additional commitment of a student from the assistantship, I was able to submit my thesis with a feat of strength and complete my studies. For here, too, there were always setbacks for me, situations in which various actors brought me back in, where I would have given up on my own. However, I was then able to recognize my strengths, which are also related to my autism, and I was able to experience that calling on my skills against all doubts led to a good degree.

I received a lot of personal support and I am very grateful for it. However, in my view, it is even more important to have a broad impact, to uphold and further develop the topic of inclusion and diversity in society and also at our universities. The signal alone of being okay and sufficient for society in very different ways is important. To continue to work on destigmatizing otherness,
that is what I would like to see from the University of Cologne. The commitment it has already shown makes me a proud alumnus of this institution.