Published on 12, July, 2020
So I go to a local group that runs events for people with learning disabilities / ASD. I made a point of asking before I joined is this appropriate for high functioning people and was assured yes it was.
they are completely useless. 90% of the events they run are 9-5 Mondays to Friday. Not suitable for people with jobs. Mostly unexciting stuff like ‘trip to the shops / cafe.’ The one function they were started to facilitate, ‘dating’ they no longer do. But today takes the biscuit.
Having organised a weekend treasure hunt around the city centre, no one including the organiser turned up. No notice of cancellation or rearranging the time. Just radio silence. Emailed them, rang the office, nothing.
it wasn’t their fault I struggled to make connection with the mostly low functioning members. I understand the rationale around the event choices and times given their members intrests and availability. But this is just rank unprofessionalism.
posting to update thread to prevent deleation in upgrade. ... not spam
That is sad... I also haven't received any support post-diagnosis so far, which is disappointing. And whenever I mention being autistic in light of my mental health and eating issues when talking to the GP, I just get no response and I feel like they think it is not relevant...
In terms of groups, there is a group run by the NAS that meets every 2 weeks on a Sunday evening but I've not attended so far...
The best place to connect to people and support each other has been this community.
Ah well that’s a sticky point. At one point the local uni was excluding all non students from clubs. Now they are allowing non students into clubs but only vetting them on a case by case basis. They even have a note on the application form saying you must inform them if you’ve previously sued the SU. I’m sure that has nothing to do with the fact I once sued them for disability discrimination <_<.
that said there are lots of student unions that won’t let non students join clubs.
Im in the north west too.. There's nothing at all. I found something on meet up for neurodivergent minds but they had never actually planned a meet up. What is it you are after? Like a peer support group? I found one but they arranged everything through Facebook and I'm not on it. It also wasn't exactly what I was after. Is there nothing at the unI you could infiltrate?
If there any good they will listen and work on their professionalism.
It’s not a surprise - even nonprofit LGBT groups I used to be a member of in the 1990’s - 2000’s used to have the same issues and they only cater to those who are out of work
Having had no post diagnostic later in life support myself and working, I’ve had to dig around online on days off for websites - some of the stuff around is not even appropriate for high functioning Autism (if one is working) and does not even address specific issues - compared to what’s available for anti-bullying there is simply nothing out there for autistic adults with later in life diagnosis, except this chat and this website
I was able to politely express my annoyance in person. As I said I found the group 2 hours later just as they were finishing the game.
That is shocking, no wonder you are frustrated.
Have you complained? Writing a letter on how you feel about them might make them change things.
That's shocking! And not very inclusive. Have you told them how you feel?
I found the group wandering around town. They’d changed the meeting time to half an hour earlier, put the time change in a Ps in an unrelated email sent 2 days ago and then didn’t ring me when I didn’t turn up. They’d just finished the game when I found them.
There used to be an Aspergers group one city over. They went dormant for the pandemic. Then went active again for half a year. Now I’ve been trying to contact them but with no response what so ever.
I doubt the charity who’s events I attend would be interested in a high functioning autism group. It sounds like they are strapped for cash.
That sounds really frustrating. Could you approach them and set up your own group aimed at people more similar to you? It doesn't have to be advertised as such but maybe if there was some focus which was more suited to those similar to you, it would attract those sorts of people.
The truly frustrating thing is the event is run by a 3rd party. If they’d given me enough warning of cancellation I could have registered my own team. I’d have done this as a one man team even. There are people wandering the city centre around me playing the game and I can’t join in.