Good afternoon!
I'm fairly new to this forum, and I hope I can be helpful where I can be. I've (28M) been diagnosed formally with ASD for the past 17 years, and have recently begun the long process of starting to find a path to walk down in life that I can be proud of.
Over the past ten years I have gone through a myriad of different career paths and study avenues. From Accountancy to Game Design, and now teaching at the time of writing this introduction. I decided to begin my path teaching after finding no other options that appealed to me after getting my Degree, and so far it has been an enjoyable process. In order to gain Work Experience I am learning the basics of teaching through a program allowing me to work abroad in Thailand.
I am very happy to go over my experience as an autistic person living abroad for the first time for those who feel it would be an interesting tale. I have travelled to many places across the world while trying to find my purpose in life, pursuing my special interest: Card Games. To that end I was able to compete in places from Vancouver to Seoul in many events, and found many acquaintances along the way that no longer keep in touch with me for a variety of reasons. Over the last three years, those events have mostly dried up and has left me feeling adrift in the world without a purpose once again.
My contract in Thailand ends at the start of April next year, and I intend to return home to the UK to continue my teaching career. Most of the things I have studied involves aspects of Computing, so that is where I will be focusing my Academic studies for the foreseeable future. Where I am currently struggling beyond the purpose question, is a lack of physical friends or activities to get to know people properly. My parents live in the Scottish Highlands, and I will be staying there until I decide where to take my PGCE placement next September.
My opening question therefore is this: How do you go about building a new life in a new place for yourself nearly from scratch? No matter where I move in England, I will be functionally alone and will need to find a new network of friends and hobbies to pursue. Both of which I have had limited success in. I would also like to hear some opinions on where you think the most support tends to be for Neurodivergent people to meet each other, if such a place even exists. (I appreciate the optimism in that last statement)
Regardless, I look forward to chatting with you all and helping out with whatever I can!
- Para / Oliver