A leading North East charity is calling for more to be done to support autistic students through university - after obtaining figures which suggest more than one in three don't complete their courses.
To mark World Autism Acceptance Week, the North East Autism Society has analysed enrolment and graduation figures for autistic students around the UK. The charity found that 36% of autistic undergraduate students who enrolled in 2019 did not complete their degree after three years.
For the wider student population, the equivalent figure is 29%. Lauren Gilbert is the disability officer at Newcastle University students' union. They are a final year astrophysics student, and are autistic. Lauren also has Long Covid.
