New user

Hi Linz (NAS87896) I am a 50 year old woman, married and I have two (now adult) children, one dog and two cats. I struggle socially too. I also have ADHD, as does one of my daughters. My other daughter is autistic (not formally diagnosed) and has regular meltdowns caused by social activities and is therefore reducing them. We all support each other and they are great fun! I have only two friends and neither are ND but I suspect both of them are (only one thinks this too). I am new to this forum but hoping I can make friends too. I enjoy history, true crime, dog walking, nature, ancestry and (yes, I am a cliche!) steam trains. I am lucky because I am confident to do lots of things on my own and I do need a lot of alone time. I appreciate that not all ND people are able to do this, so I am blessed. I find it easier alone because I am not anxious about what the other person is feeling or expecting from me. However, I do get lonely too sometimes.

It’s not as nice as it used to,be.

What's Blackburn like? I've visited it a few times only. I've lived in Preston area a lot so haven't been encouraged to visit Blackburn (with the historical rivalry between them) but I've visited anyway 

Welcome to the community! I hope you find some friends here. I'm happy to chat, I'm into aliens and space. I'm terrible at any sort of sport, probably because of my poor coordination 

"Social communication difficulties" - comes with the autism diagnosis - I'm confident that you will find yourself in this group.  You already have in this post! Best wishes :-)

She is beautiful and really easy to keep, get worms from camping shop 

Hello, I remember seeing axolotls in tanks in Horniman's museum in south London 45 years ago. I'd not have thought of them as pets.

Having your gills on the outside has to make them vulnerable. Imagine having your lungs inside out.

It’s the biggest thing I have ever done, it was amazing, like running after sucking on a helium balloon, im down to 3 mile runs now, been injured for 18 months so just got back to racing, I do 3-4 mile run, weights and exercises and 15-20 mile bike ride every day to keep myself fit.

Hello Linz and welcome to the community.

Running the London Marathon twice is a huge achievement for sure—not something I have ever come close to.

I have one dog at the moment, the other died recently. I am interested in canine behaviour and welfare, also archaeology, religion, current affairs, and a few other things.  

I hope you enjoy being here.

Thank you so much for the reply, I really do struggle socially, i try to make friends but they find me immature and they don’t get me, I’m always left out of conversations and get together.

My axo is beautiful, wish I could send you a picture, she is beautiful, about 9 months old now, she is called Newty 
yes me  and my daughter are very close, she struggle too.

I am the head activities co-ordinator and we play bingo, crafts, read stories, wikipeadia on famous celebs and all sorts of other things.

Hi and welcome to the community. 

An axolotl? That's interesting! How easy are they to look after? I've had lots of pets in the past, including several hamsters - I think they're really cute.

What activities do you do in your job? It sounds like it might be quite rewarding - do you enjoy it?

It's good that you are close to your daughter. I hope that being in this forum helps you feel less lonely.

Did you have a good time? I wish I was able to be as energised as you! Hope you feel good after all that exercise you deserve to have a good rest now

Im back from running 3 miles and 15 mile bike ride x

oh blast not a good start mis-spelling your name - sorry Lindsay :-)

Hi Lidsay from Blackburn.  

I'm sorry that you have no friends - it seems to be a common thing with autistic people.

I'm happy to chat.  Easier to chat with other autistics than neurotypical people in my experience... 

Confident that one of the groups "moderators" will post you a link to the National Autistic Society online resources on the topic I won't steal their thunder other than to say there is a link in the advice and guidance part of the website.

No doubt others will come up with suggestions as to how to make friends and all that sort of stuff.

For my ten penneth I think it possible to generate friendships via this group - hehe although I have yet to work out how to populate that part of my engagement with it except by generating and engaging with threads in the general chat rooms!  That said after a while of doing so I have got a sense of who individual users are and how they and I engage with the group.

Overall this group is a safe place in my experience (past 3 years or so of dipping in and out - currently nearly a daily engagement) , however some measure of reserve, confidentiality and consideration is wise perhaps.

It's an especially good way of learning about oneself I have found too.  It can sometimes be necessary to be a friend to oneself too if that makes sense?   This seems to be a trick for mutual friendships too.  :-)

Anyway... I live in the East Midlands with "my family and other animals" ( :-) )  I'm in my early 60s 

Physical exercise beyond just carting my frame and innards and brain about has played a significant role in my life too - I did a lot of cycling and martial arts when younger.  Working with people and movement has been a big bit of my working life too :-) 

Doing activities with people sounds like a fun way to spend a working life!  

What sort of activities do the people you work with most enjoy and engage with I wonder?  Hehe, Dame Vera Lynn songs still popular or have the generations moved on to Cliff Richard and maybe even the Rolling Stones now?

If you've a topic that you especially want to talk about you might start another thread?   Or "dip your toe" in joining another.  It can be stimulating and it can be interesting to get an idea of both what sorts of people/the individuals themselves are here and the communication styles and skills to be found here.

All the best!

I know the feeling lol! I’m like that when doing my fitness games  enjoy!

Aww bless, I’m literally just about to go out the door for a run x have to force myself out sometimes but feel great after

I’m getting there. I’ve just had so much going on since September so it’s probably a burn out or something but trying to book a drs appointment but there never seem to be any! 

Just out for a plod nothing special, hope you feel better soon.