My working life has evolved from being a self-employed fine artist to a Lecturer in a Further Education College. I have been teaching in various settings for over twenty years, in various subjects ranging from Art, English as a Second Language and Literacy and Numeracy. For the last fourteen years, I have been teaching on a specialist access course for young people with a diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome or Autism in Glasgow, Scotland, UK.
The classes which are comprised of twelve students all whom have had a diagnosis of AS. I made the decision to conduct research into how my students feel about education because I wanted to explore in detail how students with a diagnosis of AS experience this course and to identify what positive outcomes, if any, such a course may afford.