Old forum user, new on wrongplanet

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I resisted joining here for a long time because I preferred other forums. I posted on Aspies For Freedom, another smaller forum that is shutting down soon, wordpress blogs, and non-autism related forums. They are basically all dead now. I don't use facebook, reddit is bad for discussion, and tumblr is bad for discussion. I haven't tried other social media, but they seem bad for discussion too.

In any case, this may be "the last forum" when it comes to autism forums - at least in English, as I don't know if there are any non-english options. As for me, I am in my 30s, live off SSI and Section 8, and I was diagnosed with Asperger's Disorder back in 2009, but prefer to use the autism spectrum disorder label. I like playing with my cats, going on walks, going to the zoo, and getting food at Mexican bakeries, which there are a lot of now that I live near the Mexico border. I am also Buddhist and practice with a Buddhist community locally.

I moved to a desert border town to get section 8, but it has been a nice experience living here. I love the desert and sometimes walk to Mexico, though I am very cautious given the murder/kidnapping in the border region of Mexico and don't speak Spanish well yet, so I don't go that often. The mexican street stalls are not very "autism friendly" even without the language barrier and so I have never tried to get anything, but they have lots of interesting things.

In Summary, I'm Latimeria and it's nice to meet you all.

Welcome to WP!

Welcome to WP! I hope you decide you're glad it's here.

Welcome to Wrong Planet.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Hello there! I also new! Hope to see you around!

I used to post in other forums several years ago (I used to be a regular member on autism section of braintalk.org as well as some autism-related Delphi forums back in the early 2000-s) but they are all dead nowdays.

There were a couple of occasions I ran into BehavioralOnline as well as HealthBoards, both of which had autism section. But I never participated there the way I did in the other ones. I think they are dead now as well, although I haven't checked.

It seems like nowdays WP is the only one thats active, in contrast to distant past when WP didn't exist and those other forums did. I kinda miss those years.

Do you have any suggestions of any of the forums other than WP that are alive nowdays?



Never heard of that forum before. When was it created? And why is it shutting down?



What topics?



I don't blame you. They aren't really forums, and they are addictive. I definitely miss good old forums back when things like facebook or reddit didn't even exist.



Agreed.



What other languages do you speak? I guess I assume you are Mexican from the rest of what you wrote, but I can't know for sure so I will ask.

I am originally from Russia and the two languages I speak are Russian and English.



What does Section 8 refer to?



I was diagnosed with Asperger too. And I exclusively use the word Asperger to describe myself, even though the label doesn't exist any more as an official diagnosis. First, that is how I used to describe myself, and I don't like to re-learn it just cause the committee changed their mind. That, plus I also feel like using the term "autism spectrum disorder" would lump me together with the rest of the spectrum and create confusion while Asperger is a lot more clear when it comes to describing what I have *and* what I don't have. I think it is sad they removed that label from the official criteria, I really hope they bring it back.



Me too. Cats are so soft and irresistable. When I see a cat I can't help but want to cuddle with her.



I like going to walks and trying food too. Long walks and food are good combination: go for a long walk and explore restaurants along the way. Then if I am lucky I would run into a new restaurant.

But Mexican restaurants aren't my favorite. I am of Jewish background, although I believe in Jesus (I am Messianic), so I still follow Jewish dietary laws. When I heard that in Mexican restaurants they use lard, particularly in bakery, that pretty much made it a no-no for me.

I do miss some of the other (non-Mexican) places where I could eat bakery. Can't eat any more due to pre-diabetes. So now that I know I am pretty much limitted to salads anyway, I found myself liking Mexican places too (mainly their atmosphere). I wish I could cure pre-diabetes somehow so I could eat bakery and other stuff again. Food used to be one of my biggest joys.



What is section 8?

And why is it only available at a desert border town?



Oh wow, that sounds exciting. I didn't know it was possible though? I thought you need a visa to cross the border. Or was I wrong?

I am currently living in a desert-like place too, depending on what you mean by desert I guess. I am in Albuquerque. So it is relatively close to Mexico, but definitely not a walking distance: in fact it would take few hours drive.

I do know though that there is a train going to El Paso, and El Paso is super close to Mexico. Always wanted to go there but kept putting it off.

If one day I do get to El Paso, do you think I could walk to Mexico too, or would they not let me due to not having a visa?



In what sense?



What kinds of things?



What does this word mean?

spicyjelly, Welcome to WP to you, also!

AutismFriendsNetwork.biz gets posts every few days usually (very low activity), but it was just announced it may be shutting down. This is the only other one I know about. I miss forums being everywhere, but it seems like most people prefer facebook and the like.



I meant I posted on Aspies for Freedom and now post on another smaller forum that is shutting down soon (probably). Aspies for Freedom has been shut down for years and was active at around the same time as wrongplanet started. It had a different feel. I don't remember all the details about why it shut down, but I think there was some kind of drama while I was inactive and autismfriendsnetwork was intended to be a low drama successor.



I used to like MBTI (no longer respect it), political forums, etc. There used to be a forum for everything, but most of these are gone now too.



I am not Mexican in nationality or heritage, but I moved out to a border town when I was offered a section 8 voucher. I am hispanic but grew up in a non-hispanic part of the US and only really speak English, but I have been trying to learn Spanish. I do anki cards and I do things like watching anime in Spanish or the Dreaming Spanish youtube channel, which I don't understand all of but my comprehension is steadily increasing.

I have a very hard time understanding people here though. The North Mexico dialectic feels very different to me and of course people don't speak clearly (not saying all the syllables etc) in any language or dialectic. I am improving there too though.



A housing voucher. I pay 40% of my SSI on rent and utilities and get to keep the rest.



I usually don't go to restaurants because I can't use food assistance, but I can use it at some of the bakeries here. There's one place on the Mexico side of the border that I've been to a couple times that I like. The first time I had chilaquiles and the second time I had 'Aguacate "Toast"' (with avocado in spanish and toast in english like that). Most places here are some variety of Mexican, but Mexican cooking can be pretty varied.



It's administered by local government and each local government only offer new vouchers at certain times, so I had to live in this particular town/city to get it in a reasonable timeframe. It's possible to transfer it eventually, but I'll probably stay here a while as I like it.



US citizens don't need a visa. Mexico is supposed to give you something called an FMM when you cross, but they don't actually give it to you and no one cares if you have the FMM as long as you stay in the border town. If you head south or take a plane you could get in trouble if you don't have one, though, so then you have to go to their migration office to get one. It's free if you're staying 7 days or less.

Also if you take a plane from the US and fly into Mexico then they will give you the FMM. It's only if you cross by land then go to a Mexican airport that you have to go to the migration office. I hear the Mexican airports in border towns will still give them to you, but I don't know if that's true.



You can. There's very little security walking into Mexico. I had to walk past someone with a semi-automatic rifle one time and then several more people with dogs, but all they did was search my backpack for a few seconds and then I walked across the bridge. Check in advance if there's a toll. As a pedestrian it's probably like 50 US cents both ways or something like that, which you can pay in either currency.

Just very careful as Juarez has one of the highest murder rates in the entire world as well as a kidnapping problem. It's not somewhere you should wander around if you don't know what you're doing, but specific places can be relatively safe. You also have to know how to avoid getting kidnapped etc (ie, only get in legitimate taxis etc).

Going back to the US, you are supposed to have a passport, but they will let you in if you have a driver's license and birth certificate, as they can't deny people entry if they're citizens (or rather, unless they prove you're not a citizen). They can make you wait a long time though.



Well they are crowded, noisy, chaotic, don't have listed prices, and can involve haggling.

If you go somewhere like a supermarket it will be more like the US though. Some of those types of stores are cleaner and more organized than the US ones, including some of the big chains. Some other indoor markets are equally packed and chaotic.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latimeria

Coelacanth, one of the oldest living species of fish, was taken so I went with the genus. I thought Coelacanth would be safe but I guess it's an autism forum so I am probably not the only one who likes them. My picture is a coelacanth.

I wrote this hurriedly as I'm about to go to a medical appointment, but I will reread it later. Tell me if I missed anything or was unclear.

Hello Latimeria and welcome to Wrong Planet - I hope that you will enjoy it here!!

Welcome to WP!