Rachael Wiltshire, who is an adviser for Altogether Autism, spoke at Otago Polytechnic Te Pūkenga’s Neuroability Symposium yesterday.
Ms Wiltshire, who was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome when she was 12 in 2006, said she was interested in creating new learning approaches for those on the spectrum.
"Most tertiary organisations are very big institutions, so they have to have a lot of rules in order to function, but if those rules don’t work for you, they can be a very difficult space."
Ms Wiltshire said she studied science and arts at Auckland University from 2013 to 2015, but although she was getting excellent grades, she felt she did not have the support in her wider environment, and experienced depression.
"I spiralled into a place of perfectionism, which is never healthy," she said.
She then decided to move from Auckland and back to Wellington in 2016, and studied for a bachelor’s degree of creativity in commercial dance at Te Kāhui Auaha. She graduated in 2021.
"I had done dancing throughout high school, but taking it up as a subject was also partly about healing," Ms Wiltshire said.
Shortly after she graduated, Ms Wiltshire helped research and write six guides commissioned by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) aimed at lecturers and tutors in tertiary institutions to understand what autistic learners need from them while studying.
Ms Wiltshire said it was important to find places in the tertiary environment for the "square pegs in round holes".
"If I had known who to talk to at university about what I needed, things would have been easier."
These days, she dances with a Wellington company and has performed for the Wellington Saints basketball team, as well as at Silver Ferns netball games.
Ms Wiltshire is now studying to be a translator at Victoria University of Wellington.
"My life is always a bit of a juggling act, but I think I have found a good balance," she said.
