Aspies For Freedom

I have successfully created a student group at Cooper Union, the university I attend.  The only problem I am now encountering is wondering what to do now.  Any ideas of what we can do?

Created a group without a mission or purpose?  You have already failed.

We have a general mission, we just don't have any specific plans to help us accomplish our greater mission.  Our constitution reads as follows:  

The purpose of Students Promoting the Idea of Neurodiversity is to voice the opinion that neurodivergence is not a problem that needs to be eradicated.  Additionally, this group supports the advancement of the interests of the neurodivergent.

you can like.... have a party or something. OO OO like a lock in! that would be fun! You know hire a DJ and get some karaoke, YAY! that would be awesome.

Or If you're not into that sort of thing you could hold a chess tournament or whatever game tournament.

Well, now that you have brought everyone together - can't the whole group help work this part out?  It might help everyone feel involved in the groups creation

Obviously, I am interested in what the other members of the group have to say.  I feel weird saying to the group "I don't know what to do next," and I figured that there were a few people here who had experience with this sort of thing and could give me some advice.

If that feels wierd, maybe, "now that were all together, we can talk about how this group is going to function...anybody got some ideas?"

I don't know why I am even trying to give advise - I really suck at this.  I bet others will have much better openers...

The first thing would be to gather everyone together informally - some of the ideas on this thread might help you with that (http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthre...906&page=1).

As yours is a more politically focused group, the next step would be to put together a few notes and mini-speeches on what the group is about, and what the current state of autistic rights is like.

From there, I'd simply ask for the groups thoughts on the matter - I'm pretty sure that if the group comes together for the purpose of autistic rights, an open-ended discussion could go for hours (note: for future meetins you'll need an agenda to keep this from happening).

Just in case things take a while to warm up, prepare a few ideas of your own - but don't mention them initially unless the conversation isn't moving, as you don't want them to feel like you're dominating the show...

Hope that helps - and let us know if you need any help in putting together the speeches...

I kept mine peer support and Aspie pride. I try and let the dynamic of the group work out itself; but mine isn't as politically centred as yours (yet).

I've been organizing one that preaches neurodiversity in general, and tries to reach out past the autistic community to include other atypical neurotypes as well as neurotypicals (because we've tried before to have an all-mental disorders group, but the school administration won;t take you seriously unless you have mainstream support- same reason the GSA needs straight people). We focus on educating people about the neurotypes and neurodiversity, combatting social stigma and social problems such as discrimination and unemployment, offering a supportive environment, promoting self-advocacy, rebuilding self-esteem, and generally attempting to make life more livable. We've got members with ASD, ADD, ADHD, OCD, various phobias and manias, anciety disorders such as depression (and manic depression), bipolar, fetal alchohal syndrome, and one with schizophrenia. We've also got several neurotypical allies. This all before we;ve even truly begun to make ourselves apublic group- we're still forming up. It's going to be a smashing success, I should think.

Several student groups have been started by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN). You might contact ASAN to find out what some of the groups are doing. http://www.autisticadvocacy.org

You certainly have not failed! You've started a group and you have a mission statement. I think it's perfectly legitimate to ask other members what ideas they have about the direction the group will take. Many groups start out in just this way, with like-minded people initially wanting to start an organization and working out the details over time.

What you have done so far is really positive!  You might want to approach the next stage instead of thinking help - I don't know what to do next! - but by saying - Brilliant - we know what we want to achieve, let's get our heads together and work out how we're going to do it!

This way you keep it positive, keep it focussed and keep everyone involved.  You might want to look at creating some kind of plan which shows what the current situation is, where you want to go, and what you might do to get there.  I'd start with a "brainstorming session".  For this you need only a flipchart or big bits of paper, coloured pens and people with ideas.  At this stage you don't structure things too much, and don't be picky about how achievable the ideas are.  This is about getting inspiration from crazy and whacky ideas - towards the end of the meeting, maybe after a break for coffee or something you could break people into groups to think about the ideas and see how they fall into categories of things that could be done.  So, you might have some ideas which could be loosely grouped under the heading of "publicity and awareness-raising", others could relate to "political pressure", others to "fund-raising".  Ask people who have particular interests, contacts or skills to get themselves into action groups for each heading and come back to next meeting with a simple plan for what can be done.  Nothing needs to be set in stone, things can change as you go along, and it's better to work within what is achievable than set your sights too high early on and get discouraged.

Go for it!