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evolvingalicia
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25 Jan 2023, 9:03 am

Hi everyone! I am posting in this forum because of the focus on activism and representation. I am a social worker and recently discovered that I am autistic. I have always wanted to start my own business to empower and support others, and I feel even more passionate about focusing on empowering those on the spectrum. My goal is to create a space to share resources, interviews/experiences of other folks on the spectrum, peer support and psychoeducation groups, and worksheets/videos/audio recordings related to wellbeing, mental health, unmasking, self worth and self acceptance. I wanted to get some feedback from the autistic community to expand on my own lived experiences and knowledge, so here I am! I'm wondering if anyone is willing to share their thoughts on some questions:

1) what resources do you wish were available to support and empower you as an an autistic person?
2) which areas of life do you struggle with most? what do you believe could help make this more manageable?
3) what parts of being on the spectrum do you wish were better represented online/on social media?
4) What words best describe the positive parts of being on the spectrum? I have been trying to think of a business name and thesaurus has NOT been helpful!! Some ideas I've come up with so far are "Divergent Wellness" "Empowered Expressions" or "Radical Identities" . I like the idea of involving unmasking/authenticity/self acceptance. please share your thoughts and ideas!!



Highlander852456
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25 Jan 2023, 5:03 pm

People on spectrum are neurodivergent, but are not the only ones.
Since the amount of people on spectrum is higher, it means out of the neurodivergent groups autism is pretty high, but pretty much anyone who deviates from the norm in thinking is neurodivergent.

Therefore I think you should drop any hint of neurodivergent if you like to focus just on autism.

How about Institute for autistic/savant syndrome prosocial brain calibration. Doesn't the name just pop? :nerdy:



Fnord
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25 Jan 2023, 5:48 pm

Q1) What resources do you wish were available to support and empower you as an autistic person?
A1) An instruction guide for "proper" social behavior.

Q2) Which areas of life do you struggle with most?
A2) Getting people interested in me as a person, and not as a collection of "weird" behaviors.

Q3) What do you believe could help make this more manageable?
A3) More media representations like "Amazing Attorney Woo", and fewer like "Sheldon Cooper".

Q4) What parts of being on the spectrum do you wish were better represented online/on social media?
A4) Our humanity.

Q5) What words best describe the positive parts of being on the spectrum?
A5) "Thinking Outside the Box".  I am a retired electrical engineer who solved problems that no one else could.


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Edna3362
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25 Jan 2023, 6:56 pm

1)A very stable community by and for NDs.

2)Executive Dysfunctions. More research on that.
And it's not exclusive for autistics, but for overall neurodivergent people who struggles with it.

3)The most realistic representation of how neurotypicals currently treat NDs of varying levels, complete with compare and contrasts of both parties.
Don't just have 2 families to foil one another, have like 4 or so.

4)It's just another balancing act... :shrug:


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Mona Pereth
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25 Jan 2023, 9:20 pm

evolvingalicia wrote:
1) what resources do you wish were available to support and empower you as an an autistic person?

Not for me personally, but for various other autistic adults I've known, through the support groups I've been involved in and elsewhere:

1) A social worker who is an expert on the details of various government benefit programs, to help people apply for same.

2) Making it easier for adults (especially older adults, and especially women) to get an autism evaluation. I understand that you're a social worker, not a psychotherapist, but maybe you could partner with an appropriate psychotherapist. There are lots and lots and lots of still-undiagnosed or misdiagnosed autistic adults out there -- the older, the more likely to be undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. The main problem is that there are nowhere near enough psychotherapists out there who are trained to do autism diagnosis. To that end, what's needed is for more of those therapists who are trained to do autism diagnosis to do clinical training of student externs. And, at least here in the U.S.A. (I'm not sure if it works the same in Canada), therapists who do clinical training receive money from the trainee's school and thus can offer the autism evaluation service at much lower cost than normal -- and that, too, is desperately needed.

3) Professional-led support groups for autistic people with a specific co-occurring condition, e.g. autistic people with depression, autistic people with anxiety disorders, or autistic people with BPD.


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