Lola is 23. She is autistic and has severe dyscalculia, a lifelong condition that affects her understanding of numbers. Removed from mainstream education at 14 and selectively mute for four years, Lola was home educated by her mum Martine, who fought for years to win her the support she was entitled to.
Despite Lola’s difficulties with education, it was a huge ambition of hers to go to university to study archaeology, her lifelong passion. Lola worked incredibly hard at Cornwall College to achieve the necessary qualifications and an offer to attend the University of Winchester however, given her needs, typical student accommodation was not suitable. Lola’s family found accommodation to meet her needs, but the cost was beyond their reach.
“It was the last thing standing. I had nowhere else to go,” said Martine. “If we did not get this, she was not going to go. And it was not going to be because of her academic ability. It was going to be because of accommodation, of all things.” STAND FOR understood this was about removing a disability-related barrier, and funded the accommodation for all three years of her degree.
Lola graduated with First Class Honours. “When Neil put that money behind her, she felt like for the first time someone believed in her, believed that she had brains,” said Martine. “It was absolutely life-changing. She just started to believe in herself. She was living alone. She could do it, if given the chance.”
Today Lola has never been mentally and physically healthier. She has combined her love of history with her talent for art and is working towards launching her own illustration website.
“STAND FOR means equality, hope, empowerment and a fair chance,” said Lola. “My relationship with education often felt like a David and Goliath story. STAND FOR understood that I did not need anyone to lower expectations for me. I needed the barriers to be removed so that I could meet those expectations in my own way. They did not change who I am. They helped create the conditions in which I could finally become who I was always capable of being.”
“As a mother, it enabled me to see my daughter fly,” said Martine. “There can be nothing greater for a mother.”
Story published with permission. Content and quotes drawn verbatim from the Stand For case study.
