Do you still believe in the Autistic Community & Culture

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Yeah. Worse, I can't fly and Autreat has no train access. That means I have to rent a wheelchair van. Which is ultra-expensive and only worked one year when my agency had not spent all my funds by the end of the fiscal year.

Going back to the OP, the original question, and the OP's concerns, I say YES with one caveat.

I am not officially diagnosed, but I am fairly certain that the black cloud of my life from childhood on has been AS! I have been here for a while.

The circularity of the discussion board is actually a help because it keeps me and others from having to search to find topics from way back when. When they come back up again and other people respond, I get a different perspective from other people. There is always the chance that more will be revealed and I will remember something that I didn't mention before. In this case, it's as much of a HELP to ME as it is a reason to post.

I tend to enjoy solitary pursuits (being part of a group is okay - taken in moderation, of course) The clubhouse where we play cards made an appeal to people to join to help keep the club financially afloat. I told one of the members that I want to contribute to the club's continuation, but that I wasn't interested in the rigamarole and the politics. So I offered to be a member in-absentia meaning that I would pay the dues so I wouldn't have to pay the entry fee while continuing to pay for sodas so that others wouldn't ask me to abuse my membership privilege.

Another example is that I used to be very active in the Fellowship I belong to at the metropolitan area level, but it began to wear me thin dealing with too many personalities and power issues. I went back to working in my homegroup and just being a member.

I use those as examples because I really rather doubt that I would become like an activist in the movement. I enjoy what WP and other forums have to offer as far as sharing experience, strength, and hope while finding identification with others on the Spectrum.

For many autistic people (and by no means is this related to what most call functioning level), the desire to socialize is very real, they just lack opportunities to socialize with people who understand them and will not judge them. It's not that being social is an "NT thing", just that nonautistic people get far more chances at socializing in environments that are good for them to socialize in.

This is why, before there were any big social meetups of autistic people, individual autistic people would spend huge amounts of money and effort flying and driving thousands of miles just to meet each other. This is also why people still fly and drive those distances for the big social gatherings that now exist. And these are not and have never been just the "least autistic" people who do things like this, in fact most of the people who founded the original events were (by typical standards that I understand but don't share) far "more autistic" than many of the people who say they can't understand why autistic people would ever want to do something like socialize.

(I actually think more nonsocial autistic people may be being diagnosed now than back then. Because back then most diagnoses were just based on appearance which is often wrong. These days many diagnoses are based on people identifying with the nonsocial stereotype that such appearances evoke in people.)

Not all autistic people have this desire but many do and it shouldn't be pooh poohed as an "NT thing" when they do, or when they want to build communities around this desire. Even webforums like this one are essentially social in nature.

We, as a community, have so much to offer. Thank you, anbuend, for stating the premise so well. I so much appreciate your posts and really value your contributions. I do sense a connection amongst all ASD individuals; I'm an Aspie and the Wrong Planet is such a boon. So many articulate individuals - we are a collective culture.

In all sincerity, I've regarded the Culture of Autism as a collective, quite the borg cube as a collective (honestly, I do not mean this facetiously!) and we each bring our own perspective to a greater organisation: our community. Many Aspies are so very successful and productive with so much potential. As a culture, we need to share this with all others.

i have never been interested in "communities".
"communities" are coagulations of incomplete souls that search for their completion.

Never have and won't.

Yeah it was directed at you, I misunderstood what you meant.

I'm personally pretty wary of group membership so while I may work alongside groups for various goals, it is rare that I actually join them.

I think the comment about incomplete souls is inaccurate though. Plenty of people feel totally complete yet enjoy socializing or working in communities. Or as one autistic founder of an autistic community said to someone else "You could leave and I'd be just fine, or you could stay and I'll feel even better." Social interaction can be as rewarding as any other activity without having to be about loneliness or incompleteness. I never get lonely but I like having a few friends and sometimes participate in communities.Heck anyone writing here is participating in a community whether they admit it or not. I've always found it amusing watching autistic people socialize online by saying how nonsocial they are.