Autism spectrum business cards?

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Ok - this is a strange idea and I'm sick (physically - we all know I'm mentally sick) - so they may be related - but hear me out . . .

I went by Subway for dinner on my way to help this person I know with a fundraiser and while I was there there was this guy standing next to me in line - and he had a very weird tone of voice and stood really way too close to me . . . and I was thinking - that is creepy but somehow sort of familiar (that familiar feeling almost always means that a person either has ADD, bi-polar, or autism spectrum - it is strange) . . . then I looked at him and he was all not kept up very well - this is probably a guy in his 20s and the minute I looked up at him he looked away from me . . . and then he proceeds to drive the poor server crazy by saying he wants 'exactly four tomatos' and exactly how many olives, etc . . . to the point that I end up ahead of him in line with him appologizing to me for wanting this to be perfect . . .

Now, I'm thinking - ok - here is another aspie so I told him that it wasn't a problem - but what I wanted to do was ask him if he was diagnosed - becasue, like I said - I could have saved myself a huge amount of time and effort if I had known this earlier - but then I started to think how inappropriate that would be and how you can be wierd without having AS . . . but then how much it changed my life to find out . . .
not to mention the sort of stress direct attention might have caused this guy . . .
And, hell, he could be diagnosed and be a member of this chat room for all I know . . .

ANYWAY - this led me to think that it might be plausable to create a set of business cards - that say something about wrongplanet.net or something and tell the person to visit . . . that way it is their choice - they don't have a lot of undue stress forced on them . . . I mean, I've gotten business cards about skin care products and all sorts of other stuff in a similar manner . . . if it doesn't fit them they can just talk about this weirdo they met - but if it does then it could benefit them . . .

So is this just a result of a fever or is it really a good idea?

^Dude, that's not just a good idea, that's a GREAT idea!

I think it's a really great idea and I would be thrilled if I ever had someone pass me a business card like that. I could also see some people getting really offended by it. But I think it would be worth the risk.

I know I'm constantly vigilant for that feeling of kinship or finding a target, though when I do find one I tend to watch from the shadows longer, and then step in when I see an opening that I know will work. I think I've given some people bizarre but intiguing impressions of me that way... Two sentences and a scribbled website on the last day of class to a guy at college, and then him catching site of me across an airport terminal several months later and saying "Hey, stop! I want to talk to you! Who are you?" ... a scathing but accurate written response to another guy in a creative writing class that led to him completely changing his writing style for the next assignment and producing something that left my mouth hanging open, it was so good, and then a five minute conversation after class about things two strangers would never talk about ...

And if a business card can make it more likely to create instant-intense-then-gone connections like that, I'm all about the idea.

In this politically correct society of ours, so can I.

That's not a bad idea there animallover
Pretty damn good indeed...not sure how it could be achieve though..Ideas anyone?

It's quite easy to order business cards online. You can design the cards and have them printed up. I am not sure if there is a way to produce them so that members could purchase them, but I do know that if someone created the image files and sent them to interested members, the members could have the cards printed up for themselves.

That is a great idea There is a free downloadable template for word that actually sections up the sheet into card sizes. I think it downloads from Avery. Then all you have to do if you want to print them off is purchase the card stock.

I added wrongplanet.net to the New Zealand Autism Societys surport sites list.

This is a brilliant idea, but I do think the cards should be the same world wide, Could Alex do this and maybe sell them to us for the printing etc charges?
Or would it be easier we all make our own, it would point people in the right direction and be more members for the site.

Maybe if we had a design available to download to our computers, that way the same one would be handed out worldwide.

quietangel that is a brilliant idea.

http://www.overnightprints.com/

Those prices aren't bad - how many of us are going to run into more than 100 aspies a year in our everyday lives - that is only $10 a year . . .

By the way, I have strep - I got two great big shots in the butt and antibiotics to take for 5 days . . . and I didn't go to work today 'cause I can't talk and I can't dispatch if I can't talk . . .

Assuming you're not handing them out in a wifi coffee shop, or at the library, by the time the party sees the website and perhaps get offended, you are miles away While I'm not all in for offending people, I think a five second "gosh what did he think I was?" is worth it if the info gets to just a few of the *right* people.

I'm assuming you aren't planning on handing them out to friends or close acquaintances, since there'd be better ways to approach it with them (such as happening to be on the website one day in their presence, discussing AS in general, etc.).

Even though my son was diagnosed at 10, we missed several years of intervention and several years where he could have had the benefit of the doubt in school, rather than sitting in ISS due to what we now know is SID.

I can't imagine struggling through to adulthood.

I did see one time a young man with his family at dinner at a restaurant we frequent. The boy so reminded me of my own son, wore the same clothes (tshirt, sweats and velcro sneaks), had the odd gait and clearly didn't want to make eye contact with anyone. When they were readying to leave, he started flapping his wrists. I so wanted to say something, anything, to them, in case they didn't know. However my husband insisted I was seeing AS in everyone around me and to "get over it". This from a man who I had to make rules for - that 1 in 10 conversations he starts must be about something other than cars. LOL My dear Aspie husband telling me I'm seeing things

Yeah - I wasn't even thinking of any sort of mass distribution - just something to have with me so when I run across people who fit into being AS of some sort I can do something to let them know about the whole community of people out there . . .