A move that was brought on by the social distancing restrictions that were introduced at the onset of the pandemic.

Originally conceived of as a coffee and zero waste shop, Karen and her partner Gunter Hollenstein, had to switch gears in how they operated My Coffee Stop as the pandemic took hold in March 2020. They began offering delivery and click and collect services as an alternative approach to keep the business running – a move that performed so well for their customers, that the decision was made to switch the business into a fully digital model.

A diagnosis of autism during the pandemic helped Karen embrace her neurodivergent traits, which lead to her making the decision to pursue a long-sought higher education degree at Rose Bruford College.

In an interview with County Gazette, Karen says:

“During lockdown, I applied to do an online Theatre Studies degree with Rose Bruford College and was completely honest in my struggles with autism and how it had prevented me from doing further education after my A levels because of the social difficulties, but how theatre is very attractive to me because you repeat things over and over and analyse them and look at the details.”

 

“The person interviewing me completely understood me and after having won my place, it was decided that I should access an autism diagnosis to enable me to get the appropriate support that I would need in place for the course.”

 

“After the diagnosis, I felt validated and complete! The framework of autism made sense in my life, and I felt able to embrace the real me and my needs.”

Lead Academic Tutor for Theatre Studies BA (Hons) Karen Morash adds:

“We highly value our neurodivergent students like Karen – they add a great deal to the course and the overall student experience. It is important to us that the online BA Theatre Studies is as welcoming and accessible as possible.”

Karen’s experience is a great example of how our comprehensive student support offering can have a transformative impact on individual students and their studies. To find out more about how we support neurodivergent students, please take a look on our student services website.