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Exclusive Forum Section Idea...

Mr BHT

I only joined a couple of days ago and have been scanning the various threads (and the site in general), and I noticed that about 90% of the posts seem to be from mothers of children with autism/asperger's looking for help and advice as to what to do in certain situations, where to go, etc.

Now I am not denigrating anyone in the slightest, and I may have not looked too deep into the forum, but I was thinking that maybe there could be a section exclusively for those with autism/asperger's to post - perhaps an 'adults only' section restricted to members aged 18 and above with the condition, where they can interact with others and discuss their personal experiences without the observations and queries of neurotypicals getting in the way.

Just an idea from a newbie.   

Parents

  • The 90% goes much deeper. It would be difficult too to get the peole with ASD into an independent debate perhaps.... sharing experiences seems to bring out the debate - discussing the doom and gloom enthusiastically is harder and self-fulfilling prophesy - not in the best sense.

    Enigmatic?  Well diagnosis and support of young peope seems to be a postcode lottery, and there seems to be a spiralling crisis in terms of properly supporting young people on the spectrum. I suspect that research to progress this focuses too much on threads that - I don't want to be unjustly harsh - don't help people on the spectrum deal with everyday issues.

    Also action on aspergers seems to come from parents' groups. They can be extraordinarily vociferous supporters of their own cause. The one thing conspicuously lacking in parents' groups are late teens and older people actually on the spectrum. Societies for people on the spectrum don't grow anything like as fast, and the people you see at parents' group events who are on the spectrum are with their parents, and maybe wondering whether there is anything for them.

    I think the majority of voices are parents. Understandably. They need to advocate for their children and they are looking for answers. People on the spectrum generally seem less inclined to talk about it, and maybe as a result have much less of a voice, are less heard and even less seen.

    I wonder though if a forum for those just within the spectrum would work. What impresses me here is how those on the spectrum join in the discussions raised by parents. Maybe in that respect we seem to be getting somewhere.

Reply

  • The 90% goes much deeper. It would be difficult too to get the peole with ASD into an independent debate perhaps.... sharing experiences seems to bring out the debate - discussing the doom and gloom enthusiastically is harder and self-fulfilling prophesy - not in the best sense.

    Enigmatic?  Well diagnosis and support of young peope seems to be a postcode lottery, and there seems to be a spiralling crisis in terms of properly supporting young people on the spectrum. I suspect that research to progress this focuses too much on threads that - I don't want to be unjustly harsh - don't help people on the spectrum deal with everyday issues.

    Also action on aspergers seems to come from parents' groups. They can be extraordinarily vociferous supporters of their own cause. The one thing conspicuously lacking in parents' groups are late teens and older people actually on the spectrum. Societies for people on the spectrum don't grow anything like as fast, and the people you see at parents' group events who are on the spectrum are with their parents, and maybe wondering whether there is anything for them.

    I think the majority of voices are parents. Understandably. They need to advocate for their children and they are looking for answers. People on the spectrum generally seem less inclined to talk about it, and maybe as a result have much less of a voice, are less heard and even less seen.

    I wonder though if a forum for those just within the spectrum would work. What impresses me here is how those on the spectrum join in the discussions raised by parents. Maybe in that respect we seem to be getting somewhere.

Children
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