Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello. I got diagnosed with ASD about 2 months ago. Immediately I felt relief - like things made sense, I had some additional information about me which I could use to try and be a bit kinder to myself. I plunged into reading everything I could but got a bit overwhelmed and now just feel totally lost. I need to work things out, work out who I actually am after 40+ years of knowing I was different but not understanding why - and I need some help to do that I think from people whose brains work like mine or who have been through this. I keep reading that I am now part of an autism community but I don't know what that means. I don't know anyone else in real life who is autistic and I'm not great with people anyway so would rather some internet based thing. There seems to be loads of website and forums but I don't know where to start. Does anyone have any recommendations of friendly online places? I've had good advice on here as I was waiting for the assessment so thank you for that.
I am in contact with other people on the spectrum, but I don't really consider it a community. I know it is fashionable to conflate community with a common interest group, but that is not the same. To me a community consists of the people you live among.
However, that said, this is all hair splitting. If you have a One Stop Shop near you, I recommend getting in touch with them. Some of these are really good. There are also some autistic organisations which are not so good, and I'm just finding out about them. Most of them are about organising autistic pride festivals etc instead of providing practical help to those with this condition.
There is growing body of research demonstrating that autistic people are better at interacting, i.e, understanding and communicating with each-other than in a mix with neurotypicals due to a shared autistic experience and communication style. Basically autistic people are more 'compatible' with each-other. There was research to show that autistic people exchange and communicate more information in autistic pairs. A recently published study also shows autistic people develop better and deeper connection with other autistic.So in this sense autistic lead spaces are valid autistic communities, even if they are not in immediate neighborhood.Being a minority of 1% it is difficult to find a genuine community of interest locally. Sitting in a local autism group amongst people who don't share anything except the diagnosis can be awkward. Online groups, like this forum and some others might be a genuinely meaningful community for autistic people.
It is also about the channels that work for you. Some are at their best at interacting in person, others prefer a written medium, others exchange pictures. It is individually driven.