Brigitte on Studying in the UK with Autism AbroaDisabled: Part 3

Brigitte's mental health.
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[Video Description]
Zoom call recording. Brigitte (on left): Caucasian female wearing black shirt. Bobbi (on right): African American female wearing white and pink shirt.
[Video Transcript]
Bobbi: Was your mental health impacted negatively at any point while you were aboard because of anything related to your disability?
Brigitte: Yeah, yeah. So, there was a time where I was living in London. So, for the first year I lived in London, and around the end of it, I didn’t have a job for like 2 months. And that was really really difficult because rent in London is not great. It’s extremely expensive. And finding a job as an ex-pat, you know, you have a time limit where if you don’t get a full-time job at the beginning, your chances are reduced as you go closer to your deadline of your visa. Because people will see like, oh well she’s only here for like six months so we can’t hire this person or whatever. So, yeah. For two months I had no job and I was depressed basically. I just stayed at home and I locked my doors and I just didn’t, I just thought like what’s the point. And people were like, well you know, you should be more grateful of your opportunity because you’re able to live abroad. And it’s like, that doesn’t stop the fact that you can get depression at whatever time. So, I didn’t realize what it was like until later and I was like, oh I think that was depression.
But yeah, there was a time where I was just at home and I just had really awful meals and I didn’t eat well. I just stayed home. I didn’t want to do anything, cause yeah, it was like, what’s the point. And then I ended up staying in that state for longer than I should’ve because I was being comfortable there and I was making myself comfortable there. I was like, I don’t need to go anywhere. I’m here. I have all the stuff that I need. I have enough money to survive here for the next couple of months. But then I realized this is bad and also I don’t think London is the best place to be for me. London is a very stressful city. I was there right when they decided to do Brexit, so it was very cultural, you know, it was culturally a very difficult time to be in London. Because, you know, people were stressed. People were looking at immigrants or ex-Pats and they were saying you shouldn’t be here. We don’t have anything for you. Go back home. So, I experienced a little bit of that, even as a white woman. You’re still an outsider to them. You don’t really contribute to the British status quo. And they’re a very conservative government, way of being, and so, yeah, being there around Brexit was… I could feel everybody just, you know, just as an autistic person, I feel like a sponge, like an emotional sponge. So, I could feel like everybody’s frustrations. So, I needed to get out of there. So, I also…
So, after a year of being in London, I decided that I needed a break and went to the countryside. I made no money for the next year of my visa. But I was way happier just being outdoors and just exploring the countryside. I did this other program thing called Work Away which is basically, you go somewhere like a countryside local business, and they will give you room and board in exchange for work. So, it’s a little controversial because they don’t know like what’s paperwork thingy from you or is it borderline modern slavery? Like it’s really, it’s awkward. So, you have to be really really careful and selective of the places you choose to work. And live for this program. So, I was very lucky that ai have good intuition for the most part and yeah.
So, most of the time, I was in Scotland and the Highlands for a few months. That didn’t work out in the end for various reasons. But, after that I settled in Wales for the last 6 months, I think, of my visa and it was just great. I needed to like, escape and to be on my own with this really nice family who took me in, and I got to help with their business, their bed and breakfast, and their horses. So that was really, refreshing and just like cleansing. I needed to have that. To have perspective of like, actually London wasn’t that great for me. So, I’m glad that I gained that perspective by going elsewhere. So, the great thing about having a visa is you have that option to like, either stay in the city if you want, or you can go to the countryside. You can go literally anywhere depending on the exceptions and the conditions of your visa.