I tried to get a coworker to help me find a real-life autism community or support group, but there doesn't seem to be one in this city. All she could find was a group that sponsors conventions, which are sporadic and have high entry fees, even with the discount for being on the spectrum. Plus the convention seemed to have few autistic presenters and that bothered me. Anyway, another city I once lived in had a community group that met frequently, but that doesn't seem to exist here. I REALLY feel the need to be around other autistic people. It wears on me sometimes to have no one around me who experiences the world the way I do. I have started to think of trying to get support services just so I may be placed in a context where I will meet people like me. The only problems are 1) I don't know if anyone would even accept me into such a program since I am working; they often seem to help only people who are unable to work or who need support to get into work/independent living, and 2) I am afraid that even if I could, it would put a strain on my relationship because I would be basically declaring myself incompetent, and who wants to be with an incompetent person? But I don't know how else to be in a community that supports me the way I need. Occasionally we get people on the "high functioning" end of the spectrum here and I relate to them and bond with them, but they often don't last long or aren't in the program I work in because they are working towards having jobs and living independently (not my area), and even if they do stick around, we can never fully be friends because I am staff and they are "participants," and there are codes of conduct that mean I have to keep myself separate from them and act like an authority figure, and in fact I don't even tell them that I am autistic too because I'm not sure I'm allowed to.
12 Jan 2015, 11:15 am
