‘I kept thinking, am I smart enough?’: Keith Duffy’s daughter Mia, diagnosed with autism, graduates from university

Keith Duffy’s daughter Mia, who was diagnosed with autism when she was a young child, said she “just can’t believe” she graduated from university and is in a graduate programme.

The 22-year-old, completed a BSc in Enterprise Computing from Dublin City University (DCU) this week, and said her parents told her they are “the proudest parents in the world”.

Ms Duffy undertook the course because she developed an interest in computers during secondary school and chose DCU due its status of being an autism-friendly campus.

She was given extra time to complete her exams and “was able to do them on a laptop and on my own in a smaller exam centre”, she said.

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During her time in university, she availed of a “number of different supports”, such as the disability office and the Intra office, which runs the university’s internship programme.

“I don’t think I’d be where I am today without my parents. I kept thinking ‘am I smart enough?’ But I guess if you have parents who really love you, you should listen them. They’re not just telling you you can do it because they’re family; it’s because you need to hear it,” she said.

For her work placement in third year, Ms Duffy did a nine-month placement with eShopWorld.

“Due to Covid, I worked from home the whole time so unfortunately, I never got to work in their office. However, I learned about how companies do business with other companies, and I also got to learn more about building web pages for business,” she said.

The pandemic meant that all lectures and assignments moved online for part of second year and the entire of her third year.

“It took some getting used to, but I eventually got used to attending lectures on Zoom, as well as working on assignments with my teammates remotely. It wasn’t always easy, but at least I could get in touch with my lecturers and fellow students,” she said.

She is now working on a Technology Development Graduate Program with Optum, a healthcare company. “I just can’t believe it,” she added.

Celebrating the good news, her father Mr Duffy posted an image on Instagram stating her graduation was the “biggest milestone ever”.