Europe meet-up. Would you be interested?

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There are several campingsites with huts or cabins in or nearby allmost every small town, I'm not sure of the price-range though, it vary a lot. There are ususally only hotels and motels in very close proximity to towns or citys.


That's why we have all those trees, nice shade.

Last edited by Silvervarg on 09 Feb 2009, 7:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

The presentations are not obligatory, nor even necessarily central, to the Autscape event. There are various other activities proposed; workshops, and some music, ( I think ), and plenty of free time for socialising.

And you could even go off to London for the day, ( it's very close this year ), with others if you felt like it. The organisers clearly state that you can do absolutely nothing at all, if you wish. Just sit out on the lawn with a few others, as Greentea imagines doing at a B&B.

Apparently there was an option to pay for room-only if the diet offered poses a problem, so it would be possible to get in take-outs/shop for own food if prefer, and even picnic as she suggested in the OP. I don't know what the room-only price would be.


The thing that keeps bothering me, and I wonder whether it might explain the growing absence of "low functoning" aspies/auties at Autscape, as mentioned by DivaD and KenG, is that the vast majority of people have to share a room, which means no "safe space"/bolt hole to go at any time, because your room mate may want to hide away too, in which case there will be two of you and no longer a place to switch off.

I know that if I don't get reasonably frequent, and complete, "down time" I start to lose it, go a bit hypo-manic or anxious/frazzled/threadbare, and even the possibility of arranging, with one's room mate, a "timetable" for solitary use of the room, ( real down-time ), would not provide quite the same sense of a safe space. And I think it is my most AS side which needs this.

So I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was a major factor, ( DivaD or KenG correct me if I'm wrong, please ), in the "low-functioning" AS gradually "giving up", ( as DivaD put it ), on going. Because it might still discourage me.

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On the subject of shared versus single rooms I just got a very friendly e-mail from Keele University saying they would be delighted etc, and that the price for a single en-suite room with breakfast is £31.15 plus VAT.

That's a pretty good price, I think. Especially in such beautiful surroundings, with lakes, 17th century hall, local pub in nearby village, campus shop and bar, Peak District countryside, etc, but it is not London!

Apparently they have a summer school already booked for 6 weeks over the summer, which takes up all the breakfast/restaurant space, but she omitted to mention which ones so I don't know which dates are still available, ( over the period that the university is on holiday and renting rooms ). But I won't ask her unless some people here sound interested in the idea.

The two biggest advantages of this idea are the single, ( and en-suite ), rooms, and the possibility of a weekend get-together, whereas Autscape is during the week.

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At previous Autscapes, there have always been enough single rooms for people who requested them. (though last year, there were no en-suite rooms).
I don't know what will be the situation this year though.
You are invited to raise your concerns on Autscape's chat mailing list, where some of the organisers could tell you about the number of single rooms available this year, and whether any of them are en-suite.

Autscape's organising committee has always been a democratic committee. Autscape aims to appeal to the entire autism spectrum population. Nobody is too 'low-functioning' or too 'high-functioning' for attending Autscape. Autscape's organisers do maintain regular contacts with groups of so called 'lower-functioning' people and do take their views into consideration.

We actually have a meet-up every month. Participation in our regular meet-ups is restricted to people who are on the autism spectrum.
(We also have special meet-ups, to which members of the general public are invited as well).
Isn't the information on our online forums clear enough for you?

Well, I just asked her about available weekend dates anyway, because I wrote to thank her for her e-mail.

Will let you all know what dates are free when she replies.


Thanks for info.

The Autscape site information makes it sound as if single rooms are in short supply, to the point of mentioning refunds of supplements to people if their request for one can not be satisfied, so I thought there couldn't be many. I am surprised that so many people seem happy to share.

But I didn't know that they weren't en-suite, which is unfortunate. I thought the site said rooms had showers.

PS. I can't seem to get the autscape site at the moment. Error not found etc.

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Autscape has always offerred refunds of supplements to people if their request for one could not be satisfied. Nobody ever needed to claim their refund, because there have always been enough single rooms.

*LAST YEAR* they were not en-suite.
This year, there is a new venue.

Okay, thanks.

When the site is up again I will ask how many single rooms there are, and also how many rooms, ( single and shared ), are en-suite.

I also want to ask what the room-only price is, if it is an option, because I think I might have a problem with a high carbohydrate/vegetarian diet, and some people have expressed an interest in a meet where can get own food/picnic etc.

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Just found a good blog about Autscape 2008, which was in Yorkshire, by someone who attended and made a presentation there too.

http://biodiverseresistance.blogspot.co ... l/Autscape

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that's not really the problem, it's more mundane things, like 'lower functioning' people being in much more financial hardship, and generally finding being anywhere outside their own home more stressful, and needing carers or having to survive without carers when they'd be used to carers doing certain things for them. i always got my own room, so did 2 of the other people i was talking about. others knew other people they could share with, or had a carer with them who they shared with.

there were quiet rooms where, even if there's other people there, they will leave you alone. also you can be anywhere and just put the red badge on and people will leave you alone, even if you're in a social room, or lying outside on the grass. i know it's not the same as down time in your own room, but the fact that i could take a lot of down time among others meant that i needed a lot less down time by myself. and it saved a lot of walking to and from my room!

That could be an interesting experience; down time in company.

I just got a phone call from Nottingham University, in response to my request for info on prices, rooms etc. Am total wreck as a result.

Think I now know why Zonder and Lotusblossom found the food so bad and the showers dirty etc though, ( if it was the same campus they stayed at anyway; there are four different ones).

If I didn't completely misunderstand her it seems we could get full board, ( the basic hot breakfast, a servery/cafeteria lunch, and something in the evenings ), and single ensuite rooms for an astonishing, barely credible in fact, £43 plus VAT each a day.

They don't allow people to cater for themselves though.

But this is all just for information purposes. I keep having to remind myself that there is nothing to be frightened of. I'm only making enquiries.

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European meetup....

depends on a lot of factors really......

Apparently Autscape will have about a dozen single rooms, but some twin rooms may be turned into singles if the venue is not filled.

Only some/a "limited number" of the rooms are en-suite, and "priority will be given to people who could not come without this facility".

There is no room-only rate because the cost of the venue is the same whether people eat the catered food or not. People with strict dietary requirements, eg: gluten-free, will have a mini-kitchen allocated to them/their food.

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I don't think I understand what you mean when you say that " a place and a date are set by whoever sets them first".

Does that mean that I could set a date at Keele University for example, but only book one room, ( if that was possible which I doubt ), and then it would be up to others to book their own there too if they were interested, and if they weren't interested book something somewhere else after I have paid a deposit at Keele and transport to there, to be all alone when I get there?

At the moment suggestions range from numerous UK locations, ( Birmingham, Manchester, Keele, Nottingham, Autscape in London, etc ), to the Rhineland in Germany, Holland, France, Sweden, Italy, and the arctic circle, at weekends and during the week. Is anyone supposed to act on any of these and start booking for themselves, or how will a consensus be arrived at about time and place?

31 people have now said they would "maybe, probably, definitely" be interested. That would be enough for a meet-up ... ... if we all went to the same place, at the same time.

You talked about getting discount prices for bulk bookings, as is the case for example if we went for a university campus, or perhaps even a B&B, ( though I think they only make reductions for long stays, not numbers ), but that wouldn't work if we couldn't coordinate our bookings.

I think that is why Autscape, though not perfect, is probably the best place for a WP meet, along with other AS.
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Last edited by ouinon on 10 Feb 2009, 4:36 am, edited 1 time in total.

Just to say, in case anyone has been trying to get the Autscape site today, that the site has been down because of a server failure of some sort, but that apparently they should be back up again tomorrow.

Here is the link again for tomorrow:

http://www.autscape.org/

I really hope several/lots of us will go to it. It would be great to see some WP faces in the flesh!

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