And, incidentaly, I do think that the 'living on the spectrum' sub-forum does currently cater for the issues of adults on the spectrum, but I also agree that it would be better if this was more explicitly stated through a renaming of that sub-forum.
What about rebranding the living on the spectrum into something that uses the word adult in to it? Maybe: Beyond Childhood: Living on the Spectrum or Adult Issues on the Spectrum? or clarify it as you menion.
Thanks for the suggestion. I think it's probably worth saying, as a kick-off, that the 'Living on the spectrum' was intended to be the place where issues of adults would be posted, along with the other areas where there is a more general focus on the issues being addressed.
It'd be really interesting to hear if people don't feel that's what's in that area. We could work to make that more clear for people posting there.
What would be difficult, I think, would be a whole area for adults covering the same topics as an area for parents. I think in the end that might, especially in a small forum, divide up posts to the point where very little was commented on.
If, on the other hand, people would like a section where only a particular group (adults or parents, for example) were able to post, then that's more challenging for us. We understand the need some people may feel for this but it's kind of outside the remit of the service provided here - which was always intended to bring everyone together in one place to share advice and experiences.
But that doesn't mean other forums might not provide that, we'd encourage people to explore what's offered through the list of other communities - http://community.autism.org.uk/communities
Love to hear more details and feedback on this though, so we can find the best way to make some changes to improve things :)
I will mention this to Jim, who organises then community and see if he has any suggestions or comments. Either Jim or I will come back to you soon on this one.
I think an 'adults on the spectrum' sub-forum, just as there is a 'parents and carers' one, would be an improvement - so there's not a complete seperation, but there is some.
As an adult recently diagnosed with AS, I often find a lot of the discussions on this site are geared towards parents with queries regarding their children and are not really geared towards me as a single person, so I would say your idea for separate adult/child sections could work in theory. However, in practise, it is a "community" site and I feel we, as adults, should be there to offer support to the parents requesting advice as we have that knowledge and experience of what it's like to be "different" - and perhaps there are quite a few of us adults on this very site that feel their own situations could have been made easier had we as "lost" children, or our parents had access to such a wonderful network of information.
