Haroon Irshad

Law LLB (Hons)

Despite being diagnosed with autism at the age of two,  Haroon  had his heart set on university from a young age.  Living with autism led to  Haroon being filled with anxiety and worry about the fact that he may not be able to achieve his life goal of going to university. 

"I am most proud of how I have taken up so many opportunities whilst studying at university.  I was Secretary for the Law Society in my first year and I am currently BCU Sports Cricket President. I have also taken part in external debating and negotiation competitions. I have accomplished a lot, but I have the hunger to do more. 

I felt at home at BCU from the moment I set foot on campus. I don't see myself anywhere else. It is close to home, the people here are so welcoming and it is just a generally great place to be. When I joined BCU on a foundation year course, it was a huge blessing. I had a settling in period to university and being autistic, it allowed me to get used to university life and the types of people who would attend alongside me. The University offers such a range of societies, it is like a big family! Joining a society really helped me settle into university life. I can’t recommend it enough.

BCU has helped immensely simply by being there whenever I need them. I can enquire with my tutors for help and they are always willing to sit with me to go through assessments that I might need help with.

Since birth I faced many difficulties that built up over time and I suffered a lot from anxiety. I was worried that I might not ever be able to go to university and achieve that life goal. However, I have become a lot more emotionally mature during my time at BCU. I have a better understanding of social situations which I wouldn't have been able to handle before. In all, I have improved massively from being a student at school to being a man at university.

My favourite part of being a student at BCU would have to be the course itself - I just love studying law and BCU gives me the platform to do this. As well as this, the community at BCU is second to none. Everywhere you turn there is a friendly face, and someone is always on hand to help if you need it. This is something I will forever appreciate.  

To me, 'I AM BCU' means that I am part of a community. It provides me with an extremely symbolic and proud feeling."