MathGirl wrote:
Yes, but the little Meetup groups are nothing compared to a community being talked about here. I think that's the main issue. It's hard to integrate yourself within autistic people; it's a once-in-a-while thing for most.
Missed this when I responded two minutes later...
Meetup (which has gotten associated with "Parent's groups" in my circles) groups are a first step. There's no definite line between "meetings", "culture", "community", etc etc., but my thoughts are that people have to meet each other and be comfortable enough to have additional offline interaction with other Aspies.
I know I get a lot of disagreement from both sides on this issue, but I think A) We need to acknowledge the amount of social anxiety out there, and B) We have to understand that just because people are socially anxious due to past negative interactions*, does not mean Aspies are automatically unable to have offline meetings.
* Think about the average experience described on WP leading up to a DX, and social interactions both pre- and post-DX. Could a reasonable person have some sort of social anxiety based on these experiences?
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Our first challenge is to create an entire economic infrastructure, from top to bottom, out of whole cloth.
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Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (Firaxis Games)
06 May 2013, 4:38 pm
