B19 wrote:
The person who created this thread last visited Wrong Planet that same day - which was years ago. She made no other post and is unlikely to return to read a reply made 5 years later - though it could happen..
This is true. In full disclosure, I am an autistic adult with classic autism (I did not speak until I was 4).
I am in the process of starting a new group at my "place of worship". Won't be a Bible Study, but more a social group for adults and young adults with various Abilities (and won't be solely geared towards autistics either). 90% of families with a member on the autism spectrum do not attend worship services because the "place of worship" has never reached out to them or does not know how. As a result, the vast majority of autistic children have never experienced being at a "place of worship". As autistic children become autistic adults, they carry those experiences from childhood into adulthood. Also, the vast majority of autistics see things from a logical viewpoint, where the emotional part of a worship service may not make any sense to them. For individuals with various "dis-Abilities", they have faced many of the same types of experiences as children as autistic children did.
At first, I was thinking of having a social group for members of my "place of worship" and individuals who might consider joining here. Then, I got to thinking about it and decided to open up the social group to all people with various Abilities in the local community. I chose to go with Abilities instead of "dis-Abilities" or "disabilities" because of the negative, non-inclusive view that society has for people who have various "dis-Abilities" in general for ongoing decades. The prefix dis- comes from the Latin, meaning "away" or "apart". From a "dis-Abilities" sense, this is the idea that society limits what individuals with various Abilities can do. It is the idea that society wants to focus on the NEGATIVE of what these individuals cannot do instead of FOCUSING ON THEIR POTENTIAL, GIVING AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW WHAT THEY CAN DO, AND MUCH MORE. Society has used phrases, such as "quirky", "different", "doesn't fit in well", and other things. It's time to change the narrative.
I am autistic and have been characterized by society as such. If I truly believed that my "dis-Ability" defined who I am so I lived my life as such, I would come nowhere close to accomplishing as much as I have to this point in my life.
As far as I am concerned, I don't care what people believe as long as they have a "belief system" about what guides them, even if is a "belief system" in which they don't believe in religion, no existence of anything or anyone, or anything else (because that is a belief in itself). I have friends in the autistic community who attend my "place of worship", as much as having friends who are agnostics and atheists in the autistic community (and those in between the dichotomies). I had a biological father who decided it was "his way or the highway" when it came to believing what he did in his view on everything. Took me years to undo the wiring and brainwashing, then I found my own way on what works best for me.
I feel that people should find what works best for them, period.
_________________
Scott, Founder/Program Director - GCA Centre for Adult Autism
The mission of GCA Centre for Adult Autism:"Empowering the lives of autistic adults and young adults and their parents/caregivers by serving as a resource center to provide mutual support, information, and activities" in the Southeast USA
http://www.gcaspies.org2nd Annual Southeast Adult Autism Symposium- Early Bird online registration starts in late March 2018
- More information can be found at
http://www.gcaspies.org/symposiumhomepage
11 Sep 2012, 12:33 pm
