EPISODE 20 A PhD student on the spectrum studying neurodivergent young adults' varied paths to success

Looking back at her undergraduate experience, Katharine O'Brien says it's a lot easier, now, to understand how it was going. Overall she had a wonderful experience at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Academics were challenging but in a good way. Social experiences were often challenging, too, but often in a not-so-good way.  That's partly because Katharine didn't have an autism diagnosis until after she graduated from college, and never had the insight that she might need extra support- or the opportunity to ask for it. She graduated, worked in the medical field for a while, then decided to pivot from her original professional aspirations and go back to school for a master's degree at the Harvard School of Education. The experience changed Katharine's path in many ways, and in this episode, Katharine explains the decision to go back for more college, and eventually pursue a Ph.D. focused on the education, and post-school life of young adults on the spectrum. O'Brien says that so far, there are no maps for neurodivergent young adults to mark the way and milestones of success.  At UCRiverside Katharine is researching these questions, and talks about her college experiences, and her work.