Social groups for ASD/Aspergers

Hi, I was just wondering if anyone knows of any social groups providers for people with ASD/Aspergers? I don’t feel that I need a support group as such, I’d be quite happy participating in a craft group (for example) which other people on the spectrum. I’ve been looking online but I can’t find too much. The local mind Aspergers support group clashes with the evening that I do a scouting group so I can’t attend that. I just feel that although we’re a minority, at 1%plus of the population we’re actually a very big minority, but we’re grossly under-represented when it comes to social groups etc.

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  • You could maybe speak to your local social services department to ask if they know of any that you’re not aware of. Or facebook is another good resource for finding local groups. 

    If you can’t find one, how about considering starting one? There’s lots of money flying around at the minute to help with things like that, as well as support in actually setting the group up etc. 

    I go to one that runs every Friday morning and I truly love it. I can’t even begin to tell you all the benefits I have gained and continue to gain by going there, not to mention the friendships ~ friends that I can cope with :) 

    Our’s is more of a social group and we have, for a while now, been going out once a month for something to eat. In December we started to go out and do an activity once a month, the first one being bowling. And in the summer just gone, we had our first day trip to the sea side, which was really good. 

    I may at some point be starting a group of my own but with more of a focus. The group I go to is perfect and I wouldn’t want to change it in any way, but I would also like to use my skills to help autistic adults achieve any goals etc that they have, so as well as the group I start being a social group, it will have a focus on achieving goals. 

    In my town, which isn’t that big, we have a good number of autism groups for adults. Another one I’m part of favours people with what could be called more ‘severe’ autism. I really love that group as well but as I’m currently not driving and I don’t use public transport, it’s not easy for me to get to. However, they also go on walks or places of interest once a month and I generally go on the outings with them. I haven’t tried any of the other groups but the ones I currently attend are more than enough for me. 

    I hope you find one because honestly, the benefits I have gained are truly miraculous and I really do feel part of a family or community or group ~ I call it our family and so do several of the others. 

    I have had severe meltdowns in front of them, I’ve cried, been hyper, been almost mute, I’ve been tired, hungry and super excited, I think they’ve probably just about seen the full spectrum of me and nobody cares because we’re all the same, in one way or another. And I get to play one of my favourite games most week, which is scrabble. 

    I can’t recommend autism groups enough although I do respect that we are all different so it might not be for everyone, but the hidden benefits have been like miracle workers in my life. 

    I hope you find one Slight smile

  • Thank you for replying Blueray, I hope you’re doing ok? I was a bit worried the other day when you said you were going to have a break from this forum.

    I might try phoning social services and I could google search Facebook groups (not on Facebook myself).

    I would love to start my own craft group for people with ASD. Unfortunately though I’m very much at the mercy of my husbands shift patterns which change from week to week. He already uses up his 4 shift requests per month so I can run a beaver scout group every Wednesday which means that there is no evening that I could commit to running a group every week. I couldn’t run one at my home address either as having young children at home I wouldn’t want to advertise my home address to people that I didn’t personally know. I think the idea of running my own group will have to go on my list of things to do when I work out how.

    The group you go to sounds good and similar to what I would like to be part of. Just being able to do social things or activities with other people diagnosed with ASD so that I don’t get as much of the usual anxiety that I get in groups that everyone thinks I’m weird.

    I shall keep searching and hopefully I’ll find something.

  • Hi Kitsun and thank you for asking after me. I’m ok, still a little shaken and nervous about posting on here, but I’ve done some inner work around it and realised that even though I was very nervous about posting, it would be more harmful and detrimental to me, to not post. 

    I get a lot of support as well as learning more and more about myself by coming here and I know I’ve been helpful to some people. So I decided to take the bull by the horns and stay. I’m still a little delicate and I’m second guessing how other people will perceive what I’m saying etc but it’s a big milestone that I’ve achieved by staying.

    I know I sound very confident when I speak because of the way I speak but I can’t help that. I know people who are very confident and intelligent but because of the way they communicate, they come across as stupid and anything but confident and you’d never know any different if you didn’t take the time to get to know them. Anyway, there are more people who accept me as I am than there are that don’t, so I’m staying :) 

    The thing with starting a new group  is, you don’t do it alone. So, for example, it might be your idea etc and you might do much of the work to get the group going, but for it to be a real group, it’s better when others can also take part and take some of the responsibility as well. 

    So, for example, when you can’t be there because of your husband’s shift patterns, somebody else can step up and open up etc etc. You would be helping others if you could help them to run the group in your absence ~ they would be learning new skills etc. 

    Yeah, my ADHD brain wanted to change the group, let’s do this and that blah blah blah and then I realised, that the group was already more perfect than I could ever imagine it to be and if I wanted a group with a different focus, then I could start my own.

    It’s so wonderful and freeing hanging out with other autistic people, in so many ways and on so many levels. And it was through building friendships with the people that go there and coming to love them that I finally learned to love and accept myself  ~ so that was an unexpected benefit I never imagined I’d get from going to the group. And even though I enjoyed going, I play scrabble, I’ve got my little group within the group etc I still needed a lot of encouragement from my support workers to keep going. They said it was important to me. I couldn’t see why, but I’m glad I trusted my support workers because it has become a big and important part of my life now, and I’m actually building real friendships ~ not that my other friendships aren’t real, but these are on my level which makes them feel more real to me. 

    Yeah if your local social services have a wellbeing team, they will be the best people to talk to as they are out there in the community working at ground level and they’re all about making use of resources already there and developing new ones. It would be great if you could have a good chat with someone from that team, if they have one. But yeah, keep it in mind and you’ll get there. 

    Part of what I’m currently working on is an idea that I started to develop when I was having my one to one autism sessions. And it’s that I will set my group up here then travel the country helping people to do the same in their area. So you never know, we might work together in opening one in your area at some point :) 

    Thanks again for asking after me. Because of the way I communicate etc, people sometimes think I’m not human, that I’m beyond human or something and they fail to realise that I’m just as fragile as they are and I’m no better or worse than anybody else so life isn’t easier or harder, I’m just the same as everybody else Slight smile

  • sounds like a plan :-)

  • Yeah, I totally agree ~ a bunch of people who struggle to see things from another person’s perspective, all on one forum, is inevitably gonna have misunderstandings! Lol! I took none of it personally :) 

    re: your vision ~ keep dreaming/visioning it and we’ll hook up about it again shortly because this is also my vision and to bring such a thing to fruition, all we need is two people working together for the shared aim ~ which we already have, so think of it as mission accomplished, already and we’ll talk soon. I have a few things which I am prioritising at present but I’ll be ready to talk soon Smiley

Reply
  • Yeah, I totally agree ~ a bunch of people who struggle to see things from another person’s perspective, all on one forum, is inevitably gonna have misunderstandings! Lol! I took none of it personally :) 

    re: your vision ~ keep dreaming/visioning it and we’ll hook up about it again shortly because this is also my vision and to bring such a thing to fruition, all we need is two people working together for the shared aim ~ which we already have, so think of it as mission accomplished, already and we’ll talk soon. I have a few things which I am prioritising at present but I’ll be ready to talk soon Smiley

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