Aspies For Freedom

I live in Wisconsin and always feel a lot more at home with others like myself. Don't feel like I have to make inane small talk, which I suck at, or worry about my clothes or if I accidentally stim. Help???

Thanks, Natalia! I need something like that!

(Though I don't know if I have the courage to join my town's group once it's made... considering the fact that I am 13 and I think these things are meant for adults. I only join things for adults if they're online and there is no need to fully show the human behind the username.)

"unfortunately" usually they get taken over by parents of aspies, who may or may not bring the actual aspie kid.

I think the Charlotte, NC one, where we have occasionally gone, managed to split into 2 groups, one for parents w/ aspie kids and one for actual adult aspies.

No groups anywhere near me, and I don't have the time to start one.  I was hoping there might be one I could go to once in awhile.  But it'd probably just be NT parents with aspie kids anyway.   :cry:
There is one other person on a "Meet-up" waiting list for a group to start about an hour from me.

I realized what I said was kind of mean about the parents.  A lot of parents are cool people and some are hidden aspies anyway, which if you're going there to meet other aspies... you might meet some even if you think you didn't.  But if you are a teenager and you want to meet other aspies your own age, you would hope that they would actually show.  That's what I should have said, really, cos I didn't want to imply "parents shouldn't go" to those meetups.

Check back later or sign up for updates... some of these meetups can fill up and suddenly start to exist, in a matter of a few months.  i know this from some other ones that I signed up to in Charlotte NC.

Also just occurred to me, you might want to try CraigsList...

Natalia, I understand what you mean. However, the last Aspie meetup I went to the parents did hijack the meeting. Their children were afraid to talk, because their parents kept pushing them to be normal. So it was about getting jobs, and "Oh how come you're not pushing your child to be NT" stuff. So sometimes it is true, that parents ruin the meetup.

Nothing in my area.  Thanks anyway.

The activities in my area have fizzled out at present - nobody's fault - just the way things are.

I also find that some parents have tended to dominate the discussion and try to get their older children to be "normal" and look for jobs and friends and such. It would be nice to have some group to go to where we could be ourselves and be heard.

Adults or teenagers with autism have a lot to offer parents if only they could be heard. They can help them understand their autistic children a bit better but sometimes the communication difficulties hinder our ability to give as much help as we'd like.

I also find I get on fairly well with autistic children that I've met (not many yet though).