Ewan Dunn, a neurodiverse student at BOA Stage and Screen, knows exactly what it’s like to be treated differently by other students all throughout his time at school.
He was diagnosed with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) and anxiety at 5 years old.
“Having that in my life really does separate me from your average person because I like to do stuff a lot differently than other people."
“For example, I developed a huge passion for film at a very young age, at the age of like 5 or 6."
“I started filmmaking at 11 years old, then I made my first proper short film when I was 15."
"So having that passion has really set me for life and having my autism be part of that as well just further enhances my passion and knowledge for what I want to do in the future."
But even Ewan’s passion led to him being bullied in school and he received a lot of hate for his content.
“In 2021, I made a social media account where I posted daily, and I got a lot of hateful stuff from it, both online and in person."
“Even recently though, when I released Ryan (short film) on my YouTube channel I got a few hateful comments on there.
“It’s something that just doesn’t go away I'm afraid, I'm sure the one with Ryan is a one off but yeah it does suck when that happens.”
The biggest challenges for Ewan in high school were making friends which is a common trait for neurodiverse students in high school.
“Friendship groups were the biggest challenge for me."
"I did have a lot of people who turned their back on me, like fake friends and all that nonsense so it decreased my trust for those people."
“Even in college now, I was friends with someone who led me on for a little while and it started my trust issues over time, and it really did hurt me a lot.’
Throughout high school, Ewan felt like the teachers really understood his difficulty, students not as much though.
“It was just a bit of a piss take to them. I don't think people my age really understood it at that time.”
Even though Ewan did well in his GCSEs, he was overwhelmed by the whole learning experience in high school.
“In terms of learning, it can either be the best thing ever or the worst thing ever."
"For example, when I was doing my exams, I had to sit them in a separate room because, for me, the feeling of over 100 people in one room doing the exact same thing is worrying.”
Ewan says he succeeded in subjects where the learning was more visual.
“I really struggled with science because I did not understand any of it whatsoever. I think it was because we were doing it from a textbook."
“Whenever we watched something like a film clip or something in science, I would just know it straight away.”
Recently, a National Audit Office report claimed the £10 billion bill for SEN students was having little effect on educational standards.
“There are so many neurodivergent people who are, unfortunately, in schools which aren’t particularly understanding of SEN people and their needs," he says.
"I’m just thinking that if every school around the UK just became more aware of what neurodiversity is amongst people, then it would make their lives a lot easier to handle and they would be under a lot less stress."
