Support groups

I feel like here in the States the only ones I’ve heard of are in major metropolitan areas. And I DEFINITELY don’t want to go into a city for help lol

I get enough anxiety just driving on country roads.

It seems the same here too in rural Wales, there is one that cover the whole of North Wales, but they're poor quality and I honestly don't know what they're for

It seems the same here too in rural Wales, there is one that cover the whole of North Wales, but they're poor quality and I honestly don't know what they're for

You've asked the right question as mine is a want not a need. I want to meet more autistic people, have engaging and effortless conversations without judgement, and learn more about the autistic experience to understand what are common experiences within our community, and what remain my own unique quirks. Not a difficult ask. 

Its terrible that so many of you have not even had a response, it makes me wonder if the groups are still operational? 

My experience left me wondering what the group was for? They asked what I wanted help with and whatever I said they seemed unable to do it, even asking for help with tech wasn't something they could do, all I got was a list of organisations I could contact for help, which after weeks of phoning different organisations ended up with two women sitting in my kitchen with a lap, showing the cheapest two smart phones I could buy in the local shops! Like I didn't know that myself! They seemed mystified that as an autistic person I wasn't tech savy, it seems to be a trope that all autistic people must be better than average at tech. I spent 20 mins of the intitial phone call explaing to them how poor my skills are they seemed to understand, until they said they'd send me a link for a zoom type call which I had no means of doing.

If you were asked what you wanted help with, what would you aske for?

I'm in the UK and contacted the NAS Gloucestershire Group on a few occasions but I've never heard anything back, which is disappointing as I'm keen to meet other autistic people. When the group specifically set up to help doesn't even respond you feel even more isolated. I've been wondering for a while about organising meet ups for walks in the countryside, but it's hard to find a platform where there are lots of autistic people and you're allowed to share personal details to organise in person meetings. The safety guard rails on platforms like this are also barriers to inclusion. There has to be a way to connect whilst also ensuring the platform aren't responsible for individual choices; we're at greater risk without any support networks than we are meeting other autistics.