Independent living
If you chose to leave home to come to university, you will be living independently. It is important that you understand what this means and how you can prepare yourself for this.
Independent living means...
You will be responsible for deciding when you get up and go to bed, what and when you will eat, what you will wear, where you go to socialise and who your friends are. You will also be responsible for cooking your own meals, washing your clothes, cleaning and tidying where you live, travelling to and from university and managing your own finances.
Before coming to university it is important that you have thought about all of these things and are confident that you can manage them.
Preparation
You can help yourself prepare by practising some of these skills before you come to university, someone in your family may be willing to help you practise. If you don't already you should now -
- Practise cooking some meals - read our tips and recipes
- Practise using a washing machine - the washing machine that you have at home will be different to the ones in halls but learning how to separate clothes and knowing how to find out at what temperature you should wash your clothes will still be useful
- Plan a budget for your spending and see if you can stick to it. Planning a budget for when you get to university can be useful too - finance information and bugeting tips
- Start thinking about how you will structure your free time when you are at university - remember that you will need to plan your own study time, although this is something your support worker will be able to help you with
You may be entitled to help and support with community care services. This help would normally be provided by your local authority social services department. For example, you could receive practical assistance in your home.
The Autism Helpline has an information sheet titled Community Care which explains how to get assessed by your local authority and about the type of support you can receive. This can be viewed through the following website link: www.autism.org.uk
Your own local authority will usually assess your need of services rather than the local authority where the university is located.
If you are concerned about any of this please contact us. You can find our contact details here.
