06-28-2008, 07:03 AM
So I've been doing a lot of thinking lately...well, I think a lot all the time it seems, but with summer here I've been doing more "free" thinking. I've come to the realization that other than my brother and one person I've come to know quite well online in th last 3 months, I don't have anyone that I would truly call a "friend" (in the past I've defined friend as broadly as anyone I met, but I've narrowed it down...still hard to define in words). Anyway, I've been going to the same university for 2 years, and there is not a single person I'd consider a friend. Sure, I know a few people, people I take classes with, one that I did consider a friend at one point but she's since graduated, many people that I just have met a few times.
As I've discovered the likelihood that I have Asperger's syndrome, it got me thinking...I'm sure there's others on campus that are in the same position. I've been toying with the idea lately of starting some kind of Asperger's/autism group on campus, I guess sort of like a support group, but more just a way to meet other people that you actually have things in common with, that think similarly. I mean, here I've felt welcome like I have in no other place. and though I realize not everyone here is on the spectrum, and there are certainly some NTs that I get along with well, I feel my sense of belonging so quickly is due to the presence of so many people that are on the spectrum. And on the other forum I go to, the people who are Aspies I just get along with better (except for one of them that I got in a huge fight with and I hated her for a year, but she's now the one that I consider the only other friend I have besides my brother
)
Well, I'm pretty sure I'd like to at least attempt something, but I just don't know where to start. I'd like to start it as school is starting in the fall, but I'd feel more confidant, I think, if I waited until after I get my official diagnosis, plus at this point I think I'm still probably too absorbed in learning as much as I can about myself to really be there for anyone else. Diagnosis will come around the same time as the start of the fall semester, I guess it'll just depend how quickly I get a spot to be evaluated and how long it takes. I dint know how to go about starting it - there are tons of places around campus to post notices and the like, so I guess fliers would be a start. But should I, when it gets to be time to begin, pick a date/place and post that there will be a group, or post asking about interest and giving an e-mail contact? I've never taken the initiative to tart something like this before, so I really have no idea what I'm doing, to be completely honest. As far as I know there is nothing on campus yet that has anything to do with autism. I almost wish I would still be living on campus next year to make things easier, but I'm not.
Just in the off chance that someone else here goes to the same university (if so I'd LOVE to hear from you!) I go to Wichita State University.
Any input would be greatly appreciated. I'm so lost at the moment. I want to do this, I really, really do, I just don't know how.
As I've discovered the likelihood that I have Asperger's syndrome, it got me thinking...I'm sure there's others on campus that are in the same position. I've been toying with the idea lately of starting some kind of Asperger's/autism group on campus, I guess sort of like a support group, but more just a way to meet other people that you actually have things in common with, that think similarly. I mean, here I've felt welcome like I have in no other place. and though I realize not everyone here is on the spectrum, and there are certainly some NTs that I get along with well, I feel my sense of belonging so quickly is due to the presence of so many people that are on the spectrum. And on the other forum I go to, the people who are Aspies I just get along with better (except for one of them that I got in a huge fight with and I hated her for a year, but she's now the one that I consider the only other friend I have besides my brother
)Well, I'm pretty sure I'd like to at least attempt something, but I just don't know where to start. I'd like to start it as school is starting in the fall, but I'd feel more confidant, I think, if I waited until after I get my official diagnosis, plus at this point I think I'm still probably too absorbed in learning as much as I can about myself to really be there for anyone else. Diagnosis will come around the same time as the start of the fall semester, I guess it'll just depend how quickly I get a spot to be evaluated and how long it takes. I dint know how to go about starting it - there are tons of places around campus to post notices and the like, so I guess fliers would be a start. But should I, when it gets to be time to begin, pick a date/place and post that there will be a group, or post asking about interest and giving an e-mail contact? I've never taken the initiative to tart something like this before, so I really have no idea what I'm doing, to be completely honest. As far as I know there is nothing on campus yet that has anything to do with autism. I almost wish I would still be living on campus next year to make things easier, but I'm not.
Just in the off chance that someone else here goes to the same university (if so I'd LOVE to hear from you!) I go to Wichita State University.
Any input would be greatly appreciated. I'm so lost at the moment. I want to do this, I really, really do, I just don't know how.