whenever we get on of these college or Uni students wanting us to fill out a surveymonkey we could fill in their surveys with utter nonsense?what do you think??
Parents
Former Member
Longman raises a very important point. This forum serves different needs.
a) It is a chat-room but it is mainly discussion about the problems of living with autism, there are some discussions of music, and other interests but these tend to flounder as we tend to have more differences in these things than things in common. The thing we have in common is the autism and most people, particularly those who come on the forum, are struggling with some aspect of that.
b) It is a frontline support and asssistance forum for people who are often desperate. People can find it easier to get going on here using written, anonymous communication than they have managed when dealing with GPs and all of the other professionals that get involved. It is traumatic and stressful to be exposed to the torrent of systematic failure of the so-called systems that washes up on the forum. Longman raises some valid points about the impact of that on the untrained forum member.
This thread has actually revealed a lot of issues that I was only vaguely aware of. I think we have had thoughtful and revealing feedback from NAS and I am more reassured that the issues that have been festering are going to get dealt with. It seems to me that the moderators and ourselves perhaps need more backup from the helpline staff who, hopefully, have more formal training and current knowledge of what can be done to help than we have sometimes. I am aware that my knowledge is sometimes that of the well intending amateur but I am also aware that we can only do our best so I try not to get too involved in individual's issues. Keeping this balance is not always easy, particularly when it is clear that the people asking for help are in very real and dire straits.
Longman raises a very important point. This forum serves different needs.
a) It is a chat-room but it is mainly discussion about the problems of living with autism, there are some discussions of music, and other interests but these tend to flounder as we tend to have more differences in these things than things in common. The thing we have in common is the autism and most people, particularly those who come on the forum, are struggling with some aspect of that.
b) It is a frontline support and asssistance forum for people who are often desperate. People can find it easier to get going on here using written, anonymous communication than they have managed when dealing with GPs and all of the other professionals that get involved. It is traumatic and stressful to be exposed to the torrent of systematic failure of the so-called systems that washes up on the forum. Longman raises some valid points about the impact of that on the untrained forum member.
This thread has actually revealed a lot of issues that I was only vaguely aware of. I think we have had thoughtful and revealing feedback from NAS and I am more reassured that the issues that have been festering are going to get dealt with. It seems to me that the moderators and ourselves perhaps need more backup from the helpline staff who, hopefully, have more formal training and current knowledge of what can be done to help than we have sometimes. I am aware that my knowledge is sometimes that of the well intending amateur but I am also aware that we can only do our best so I try not to get too involved in individual's issues. Keeping this balance is not always easy, particularly when it is clear that the people asking for help are in very real and dire straits.
