If you came into a lot of money, how would you invest it to help the autistic community?

That's a good one. There are too many people waiting far too long 

Perhaps paying for those on long NHS waiting lists to be assessed privately. 

i'd donate it to samaritans and also nas too . thanks for informing us about this 

Alice-nice-Alice said:

I actually did come into a large and life changing sum of money

I didn't exactly come into a large amount of money (and i'm on benefits now) but i created potentially billions of pounds worth of value with my mind by creating a digital currency and enterprise. Greta Thunberg has said a few times that the world needs people who think outside the box and that's exactly what i did in 2016. I'm confident the currency i created will give the autistic community a big lift regardless of whether people actually own or hold any of it or not 

Im nervously watching the Irish Governments property laws very carefully as this could affect me in retirement 

I actually did come into a large and life changing sum of money in 2019 on my mum’s passing. I may have had ideals about charitable giving prior to it actually happening but the reality has been different. Firstly I bought a house outright in exactly the place I wanted to live, I spent maybe £25k refurbishing it, invested in original art and collectibles to display within it then saved the rest as a guard against future catastrophe, wise as it turns out given the escalation of the cost of everything. 

The private sources of support that I have seen online appear to be of a higher quality than the NHS and council - back in the day when there was no other supports from the state for anything, the Catholic Church “stepped into the breech” and provided far better standards of care and education such as the religious orders of Catholic priests, friars and nuns in Irish schools and hospitals for example - I’ve certainly reached out to Catholic charities to try to find any sources of autism support and I’ve had a better response, when even making any enquiry 

nah, id live off it...

 if its around 1 million id just live my basic life off it.

if its around 10 million id upgrade my life buy a place in a nice area, buy my parents a place in their desired area and allow for them to retire.

basically based on the amount im obviously gonna put myself first, then those closest to me... then if its a obscene amount of money then yeah i might find ways to helping others, not entirely sure how or who... i dont think id wanna target one group though id want to help everyone i can that i feel deserves or needs it if i had enough to start helping others. maybe buy flat blocks and make them free with no rent or expenses for anyone and make it so people can have a right to a free roof over their head and break this exploitative property system. that would probably be one of the big things to help society in total.

Well in the first instance there is nothing in this hypothetical that’s says I couldn’t start a franchise of charitable venues. I could find and licence venues in other cities too. 

secondly I’m sorry I just don’t buy into this curent trend for online socialisation. Maybe I’m old fashioned. But I want to do ‘things’ with people not just talk on zoom. Ultimately introverted people like online groups because they’re normally small groups and involve relaxed activities like board games.

you can run an online club night or an online party etc (think vr chat) but with 20+ people online at once and lots of virtual moving between groups I think it would loose its appeal to the introverts.

it’s totally possible to run good events for introverts irl, quite boardgame nights etc where 5 or 6 people will settle at one table and spend most of the night there. And they have the option of dipping their toes in more extroverted activities if they so wish.

Two problems with a geographical venue. Firstly its location would would exclude anyone not living close enough or able/willing to travel. Secondly many of us even if we could get there would not want to go in case there were too many people!

I looked at how in the 19th century and in previous decades with hospitals and schools, many Catholic religious orders of priests and nuns provided many very well run places without a Penny of state support, spotlessly clean and well maintained to very high standards, in the days when state support for anything simply did not exist and this was especially true back home in Ireland 

I think that Covid has changed our world in so many ways and has opened our eyes to so many things, especially during lockdowns - living alone in the U.K. and at a time like that, wanting to be able to travel home to family in Ireland (not those who are not supportive, obviously) yet not being able to do so because of travel and other restrictions proved very difficult like a “dark night of the soul” 

Peter said:

I'd probably set up a private members club for autistic people

That's a really good idea 

I agree but I don't understand what covid has to do with it?

I think as we have learned during Covid, there is also a spiritual aspect to this post diagnosis, so providing appropriate autism specific training for Catholic Priests, Friars and Nuns for example to help provide appropriate community support would also be very useful 

I'd like to fund free/easy to access post-diagnosis counselling for adults who want it. Probably focusing on young adults (e.g. 18-25 year olds). When you're young then getting appropriate support quickly can change your whole future quite a lot.

Yes I like your idea of an emergency chat function. 24 hours a day ideally. If I was distressed I wouldn't be able to call a number but I would find it much easier to type. (I have been in the situation where I've needed support but couldn't face calling the number and I just sat and stared at it for more than an hour then gave up. I'm sure I'm not the only autistic person who feels like this.)

If I had a lot of money and it had to be spent specifically on autism services? I'd probably set up a private members club for autistic people. Something half way between a working mens club and a student union. A venue to host every kind of niche special interest activity you can imagine. Want to watch and fan boy over anime, do cosplay? Fine we'll book you a night. Massively into LARP and dungeons and dragons, here's a room we'll put out adverts for you. You want to do TED style talks on weird science or odd ancient history, we can make it happen. Can't get a date? We run a club night and members get discounts at the bar and their guests get free entry. Have you heard about our e sports / video gaming nights? The harry potter fans have a notice board over there and have a regular weekend lunch.

These are all great ideas, especially for those of us who diagnosed later in life - this is going to become more important in the coming years, with an ageing autistic population and having us to flounder as autistic adults is simply not acceptable - hopefully one of the elites will be reading this thread and will look at ways of massively improving the funding, including for existing adult autism services, both public and private  - not having money to fund appropriate support must never be a barrier to accessing such much-needed support 

I hope that you are able to get some adjustments to help at your next interview. I have seen discussions on here where people successfully managed to get the interview questions provided to them in advance. If you have those you could prepare a typed document with your answers to take in with you, meaning you wouldn't need to rely as much on speech.

I know it is hard trying to advocate for yourself. My attempts in other settings haven't been that successful. It replies on communication with non autistics. something which we struggle with. They might not understand anything about autism, not believe us or think that we are trying to gain an unfair advantage. It doesn't help that autism is such a diverse spectrum. People do not understand why some autists might struggle with things that other autists don't.

That's why my envisaged support service would do all of that advocacy for us and make sure the adjustments we need are in place before the interview. I believe there are some charities which do already help autistic people in gaining employment. Autism Plus offers free support in some areas.

https://autismplus.co.uk/employment-support/individual-support