I went to an Asperger's meetup

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I went to my first and only meetup last year. There were a mixture of higher-functioning and low-functioning Aspies, and they were all males in their 20s. It wasn't quite what I expected. Unfortunately, there was a lack of structure for the discussion, and it just seemed like 2½ hours of forced conversation. But it was nice seeing other people like me IRL for the first time. It's kinda odd, though, because I felt like the "normal" one of the group ... that's never happened to me before. I went with a support worker, and we had a lively chat about it afterwards. I was definitely glad that I went, but I wouldn't go to another meetup ... at least not like that one, and that was the only AS support group in my city.

I must say that I've found a lot of the aspies on this forum a lot easier to get to know. Mind you, there are so many people on WP, so you're probably bound to find at least a few people that you like. It's one of the things I really appreciate about this site.

My meetup was way more diverse. The leader was a middle-aged woman who calls herself "Rainbow" and there was a few other girls. It was still mostly males, but some of them were middle-aged or in their thirties.

are mistaken of what 'low functioning' means, aspies by default cannot be low functioning to be diagnosed as HFA/aspergers and those of us with LFA are not able to access HFA groups due to challenging behavior and complex needs which require a lot more support than those with HFA.

-'low functioning' refers to those of us who also have intelectual disability and significant autism, the aspie in question will have been more 'severe aspie' than the rest or perhaps because are not used to being around people on the spectrum have not yet got a yard stick to compare people by.

That's too bad, especially because you were tricked. I am in a support group/social skills class for people with ASD and I really like mine, but I seem to be in the middle there. There are people who drive and have jobs and partners, and there were people who are mostly nonverbal or echolalic. It's become something I look forward to each week, because for me it feels like I have real peers for the first time in my life.

I think "rainbow" would be a neat person to chat with.

It was actually called Autism-Asperger's so there was a lower functioning guy. He was very verbal, but he was intellectually disabled. He didn't really belong with the rest of the group, but he was technically allowed.

She was okay to talk to. We chatted about our cats, but that's about it. I'm a curebie, but she's quite anti-cure. She's also into autism pride, especially because she wore a t-shirt that said "Aspergian" on it.

To me going to one is no different than going to any meet up. There is still people visiting and talking and there are still group conversations and I am still quiet and don't really socialize. I just wait for others to come to me and start talking. But I do feel more comfortable at the autism meet up. I would say most people at the group are high functioning because they have had jobs, been married, drive and I felt a little better about myself when someone there said he feels low functioning because everyone there seems to have held down a job, gotten married, had kids and he had none of that. So I wasn't the only one there with low self esteem feeling bad about themselves. For him it was about success while for me it's about socializing. I have noticed some lower functioning folks there and I think the higher ones make them not stand out so it seems like everyone there is normal and high functioning where they seem NT. Gee I thought the negative stood out more than the positive.

You are forgetting one "important" thing. people here on WP are only communicating with each other using text. text communication filters out all things like, tone of voice, facial expressions, etc. Plus, we can take the time to compose and check are messages before we publish them.

Some of the people (maybe half) at autism meetups ackshuly seem quite NT to me, and not even weird NT, and talk about more NT-like issues like emotional things in NT-like way that doesn't make much eggsplicit, while talking about autistic traits from outside book-like perspective instead of as something strongly eggsperienced from inside, so I don't really understand most of what they are talking about and don't relate to them, but some of the people, I do relate to, because they lack the before mentioned behaviors and act more like me.

I wouldn't go to a meet up. Here no one knows about aspergers so only the classical autistics and the most severe cases get diagnosed. I know a girl like that and we can't hold conversations, she doesn't make much sense. I am pretty sure I would feel very normal in it.

why?


can you give some examples of the behaviors? Also what would be nt-like issues in nt-like ways?

Last edited by linatet on 23 May 2014, 2:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

i go to camp for Teens with ASD every summer and its great, i always had a hard time being around my peers, but with the camp, its like i finally am with my peers, instead of mean, scary aliens. i never get picked on, never get ignored, and never feel like im doing something wrong.

on the other side i do realize how annoying it is for someone to talk about their special interests for hours on end. but i do share special interests with other members of the group, so, most of the time, i REALLY fit in.

not all aspies are reluctant to discuss emotional things.

In my 3 groups most are not employed and you have a wide variety of adult ages (except obviously the over 50 group). The people that were have the most impairments have significant comorbitities.

Autism Politics is much less discussed then here. In the over 50 group mainstream politics is regularly discussed.

I have never heard I hate my Autism , or I proud to be an Aspie, we are superior, next stage in evolution mentioned. The focus is on whatever issues the person is having.

As I mentioned the other day most of the time we call ourselves aspies but autistic is used often also.

There were people that when I first met them seemed NT but after a few meetings it was obvious they were on the spectrum.

those are the ones for whom it is often said, "...but they present well."

I would assume so

would that I could say the same about myself.