Guardian: Profiles of people affected by changing UK immigration rules/enforcement

  I sure do wish I could fix all this misery. Maybe even a little bit of it. But, we're back to there's no way for me to do it. I can't even become "an activist" (as if I had that kind of talent) as I'd end up on a watch list, and get myself deported. 

I think that's actually the thing that makes me feel so trapped. There is nothing I can do about any of the things that upset me about life here without potentially running amok of their "good character" requirement for citizenship. I didnt attend protests in the US for fear of something going wrong and preventing me from coming here. Now I'm here and have another 5 years of keeping quiet and subservient. Hard to be the change when you aren't even able to publicly speak about what's wrong!

I really need a car and a job so I have more ability to get out of the house! (but right now, the way I've felt the last week, I would probably end up fired in the probation period. I really need the NHS appointment tomorrow to go well, and to find a therapist who understands adults with sensory processing issues/possible ASD.)

It'll get better, Margo. 

The sensory processing issues won't leave, unfortunately, so one just has to learn how to work around them. The ASD won't leave, either. You have to learn how to use it for your advantage. Both those things can cause havoc in your life (especially during that time when you don't even know that you have them, even though they are most definitely at play!). But you have to make a choice as to how you are going to use them to your advantage, because you can.  ASD can be a real strength. I have met so many scientists and artists in my life who are, arguably or demonstrably, on the spectrum. They have the ability to focus, in many cases, so much more effectively and see things in such wonderfully alternative ways than a neuro-typical person. They have done and do wonderful things.

I'm not sure anyone can tell you how to sort it out in your head. But maybe finding someone who's familiar with "the stuff" and just being able to talk about it will help you sort a path out. It certainly seems like a good idea to try that route.  Good luck with it - you'll learn how to control your life. I have faith in ya. 

It'll get better, Margo. 

The sensory processing issues won't leave, unfortunately, so one just has to learn how to work around them. The ASD won't leave, either. You have to learn how to use it for your advantage. Both those things can cause havoc in your life (especially during that time when you don't even know that you have them, even though they are most definitely at play!). But you have to make a choice as to how you are going to use them to your advantage, because you can.  ASD can be a real strength. I have met so many scientists and artists in my life who are, arguably or demonstrably, on the spectrum. They have the ability to focus, in many cases, so much more effectively and see things in such wonderfully alternative ways than a neuro-typical person. They have done and do wonderful things.

I'm not sure anyone can tell you how to sort it out in your head. But maybe finding someone who's familiar with "the stuff" and just being able to talk about it will help you sort a path out. It certainly seems like a good idea to try that route.  Good luck with it - you'll learn how to control your life. I have faith in ya. 

Oh, I do use them to my advantage! But I need support right now. I'm struggling with the overwhelming amount of change, and I'm trying to go back to school so I need a doctor who can fill in the form for reasonable accommodations. The first class they signed me up for was the exact teaching style that caused me to fail before, where they don't teach but feed you excessive readings that cover the same things over and over, hoping it sticks with no auditory input at all. It doesn't work for me. It never has. And on top of that I have a hard time reading if the content isn't accessible thanks to EDS affecting my eye muscles. So yeah.... Its not that I feel I can't survive, its that I need help sooner than later.

Is there a disability advocate at your school? If not, I know there are some websites for persons on the spectrum. They tend to be populated with the very young who are trying it all on. But there are other people on those boards who have been dealing with this stuff all their lives and already blazed the kind of path you need. Maybe if you try posting on one of them you might find someone who would share how they got what they needed?

But yeah, you need the appropriate documentation, and then you need some of that software that reads printed matter to you. You may get tired of the repetition, but at least you'll be able to hear it instead of having to read it. Unfortunately, my experience with higher ed is that there's a boatload of repetition. It can be just numbing. I know someone who takes a voice recorder with her, sometimes, to class. Amazingly, the Uni here gave her one. (Getting the same in the States you have to do yourself, as the legislation dealing with disability issues pretty much leaves you hanging once you leave high school.)

If you have trouble with the typing, there's Dragon software, which is pretty good, once you get it trained to your voice.  Keep at it, get that doctor behind you.

Is there a disability advocate at your school? If not, I know there are some websites for persons on the spectrum. They tend to be populated with the very young who are trying it all on. But there are other people on those boards who have been dealing with this stuff all their lives and already blazed the kind of path you need. Maybe if you try posting on one of them you might find someone who would share how they got what they needed?

But yeah, you need the appropriate documentation, and then you need some of that software that reads printed matter to you. You may get tired of the repetition, but at least you'll be able to hear it instead of having to read it. Unfortunately, my experience with higher ed is that there's a boatload of repetition. It can be just numbing. I know someone who takes a voice recorder with her, sometimes, to class. Amazingly, the Uni here gave her one. (Getting the same in the States you have to do yourself, as the legislation dealing with disability issues pretty much leaves you hanging once you leave high school.)

If you have trouble with the typing, there's Dragon software, which is pretty good, once you get it trained to your voice.  Keep at it, get that doctor behind you.

This is an entirely online school so no lectures unless the professor chooses to put them up! It's a bit crazy to me. I've had a lot of success with coursera because they have a lecture platform along with the rest of the content for the course. I want to work in research, the only way to get there is with a degree in a health field. Once you've been a SAS programmer in finance they won't hire you in pharmacy/clinical settings without one.  I'm hoping by going one class at a time I can finally finish my bachelors.

Sounds like a plan! 

And isn't research great? 

But I need support right now.

I meant it when I said to pick a date and we’ll do dinner.  I’m all ears!   

As a Brit, I find the attitude of our politicians, and the general overall feeling here right now, absolutely disgusting. Please don’t think we’re all like this, because we are not... most people I talk to are fed up too, and I have yet to come across a single one of my friends or acquaintances who voted for Brexit or who wanted to leave the EU.

I used to think my country was tolerant and that we were better than this, but the result of Brexit vote and the crap that’s been happening lately has really showed a side of Britain that I didn’t think still existed... and it seems to be getting worse and worse all the time .


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Seconded Ksand.  The most important British value that i learnt as a child was tolerance.  British ideals and society have become polluted of late with small mindedness.

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