#topnav_margin_btm { margin: 0 !important; }
Impactimpactcollege disabilitiesAutismAutism Speaks
Students With Autism, Other Disabilities Have More College Options Than Ever Before
Justin Pope/AP
Sep. 16, 2013, 10:40 AM EDT
ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — As he sits in class at Eastern Michigan University, a flood of images streams from Tony Saylor’s vibrant, creative mind down through his pen and onto paper.
Often, his doodling features the 9-year-old character Viper Girl who battles monsters with her pet fox Logan. Saylor, 22, has even self-published three books of their adventures.
Advertisement
Saylor’s professors didn’t exactly welcome his constant drawing, but once he explained it was the only way he could hope to process their lectures — and even to stay awake — most let him continue.
For college students with autism and other learning disabilities, this is the kind of balancing act that takes place every day — accommodating a disability while also pushing beyond it toward normalcy and a degree, which is increasingly essential for finding a meaningful career.
But Saylor and a growing number like him are giving it a shot. Students who would once have languished at home, or in menial jobs, or struggled unsuccessfully in college, are finding a new range of options [...]