Lucy signed up and began her studies with the OU in 2016 as always felt she had missed out on a university education when she became a single parent in her late teens. As her friends went off to university, Lucy started work to earn a living to support herself and her young son.

As Lucy explained, “I had a lot of working out to do in my twenties and I had some rocky times, I was later diagnosed with ASD and ADHD, I feel comfortable now knowing that my troubled times were just me struggling to cope with my neurodivergence. I now have an incredible support system in my husband, whom I met when my son was 7, and a healthier way of managing my difficulties. Education has played a huge role in supporting me to channel these.

“I have always read a lot, pretty much anything I could get my hands on, but I started doing a lot of research and study because I did not feel like I knew enough about the world. I felt like I had a thirst for knowledge, I read about a range of subjects and the more I learned, the more I wanted to know. I was at work one day and daydreaming about what I could learn about that evening, and I thought, why don’t I do this properly? I went home and opened up The Open University website, I had looked before but not with any intention. I had always loved English, I read extensively but at the time had been writing a lot of poetry, I had a few of my poems published in anthologies and really enjoyed the dialogue around literature that I was having in the poetry community. I chose a dual pathway in English Language and Literature because I wanted to know absolutely everything there was to know about English, I did not want to be confined to one element. I signed up that night!

When she heard that she had been accepted onto her course, Lucy said, “I felt frightened that I might not live up to my own expectations but curious for everything I would be learning. Overall, I was excited, I couldn’t wait to start, and I don’t think I have stopped talking about it since!”

She fell pregnant in early 2017, and her daughter was born in October 2017 – just four days after the start of Lucy’s second module. Because of the flexibility of the OU study, she was able to continue learning, alongside caring for her new baby daughter. 

By the age of one, however, it was clear that her daughter had significant needs and would require more care and Lucy’s whole life changed.

As Lucy explained, “I continued learning, continued caring, continued loving my field of study and my grades improved significantly with the help of a wonderful tutor (Brendan Jackson) and an OU peer I met online. Studying a subject that I loved kept reminding me of who I was and who I wanted to be. The flexibility of being able to study in my own time was the catalyst of opportunity for me. We have little to no childcare and there is just no way I would have been able to manage studying at a brick-built institution.”

Lucy graduated in July 2022 with a BA Hons in English Language and Literature with First-class Honours. 

“I looked back and realised that during the course of my study I had dealt with every distraction known to woman: pregnancy, birth, caring 24/7 for a child with additional needs, teenagers, work, my wedding, loss of loved ones, moving home, and as a cherry on top… a global pandemic.

“My daughter will be six this year and she will always be my OU baby! She has been by my side (quite literally) for the duration of my studies, she would chew my laptop, steal my bookmarks, pull the papers off the desk and blast baby shark in my ear whilst I worked but I feel she has prepared me well for a busy work environment!

“My degree in English has taught me to think deeply and write clearly and I am so excited to be able to pass this vital skillset on to young students. I love my new identity as “Mrs Edwards – English Teacher” and I look forward to continuing to learn, love, and live my subject every day.

“If it were not for The Open University, I have no doubts at all that I would not have managed to achieve any of the above, I am sure my story is one of thousands, but I wanted to express my thanks and tell my story. As an AuDHD woman, as a mother, as a student; thank you Open University.”