Anyone ever attend a local autism support group?

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If there are support groups in your town, find out what their policies are before you attend. Some might require you to have had a diagnosis/evaluation, others might not. If a group does NOT officially require a diagnosis, you have no need to feel shy about attending.

Here in New York City, there are two organizations I know of that have support groups for Aspergers/HFA adults:

1) Aspies for Social Success (AFSS), a peer support group.

2) Aspergers and High Functioning Autism Association (AHA), an organization primarily for parents and professionals, but it has a support group for Aspergers/HFA adults too. It also has a support group for women.

The first time I went to the AHA women's support group, I felt as if I had walked into a room full of reincarnations of various women I knew back in the 1980's and 1990's. (I don't believe this to have been literally the case; it's just that their overall vibe was eerily familiar. Over the years, I've been involved in a variety of oddball subcultures, which I now suspect attracted a disproportionate number of autistic and other neurodivergent people.)

At both the AHA adult (men and women) group and AFSS, I again had the impression of being with more of the same kinds of people I've always hung out with.

At all these groups, the meetings typically start with a round of introductions, followed by a discussion. At AHA meetings, the topics are selected by a show-of-hands vote from among topics suggested by people present. At AFSS, there is usually a theme selected before the meeting.

Yes they looked socially awkward

For example someone put on deodorant

Kind of got nowhere

Sitting around talking

Did not connect

Two autistics are not any more similar than two neurotypicals

Indeed: Two autistics, chosen at random, are likely to be much more dis-similar than two NT's chosen at random, e.g. one might have sensory sensitivities whereas the other one might have corresponding sensory under-sensitivities.

Even if they do have similar interests, autistic people, especially the more introverted ones, tend to have difficulty connecting and to be hard to connect with -- that's part of the very definition of ASD. So, to make friends at a support group requires a lot of patience. I would not expect to be able to start making any friends at all until after at least four or five meetings' worth of regular attendance.

(Someone should figure out how to structure a group so as to make it easier for autistic and autistic-like people to make friends. I have some tentative thoughts about this, based on my experiences in various subcultures. I'll share my thoughts in another thread sometime, when I have more time and when I've formulated my thoughts better.)

IMO one's primary aim in attending a support group should not be to make friends but to have worthwhile discussions. If the meetings themselves are not well-organized or well-led -- and even if they are -- I would suggest that you make it worth your while by coming armed with lists of questions to ask, topics you want advice on, and things you're willing to share about your own life should an appropriate moment arise.

I actually wanted to find a regular aspie meet up support group but the states as we have them don't have any plus taboo subject seems to be a word I'd use as most of society tar people like us giving a bad name to 'ordinary' mundane human beings who have everything in life. Money wealth and status gives society respect where I come from now and not much else in between. Groups have long gone and I'm forced to locate and subsequently contact voluntary organisations that stereotype class, gender based roles and identities and anybody without a status quo that limits any occupation they are trying to engulf their brains to. People here might have had more than one judgement day in their lives but only because they want to be societies rejects forever as they can't cope with being different and whilst these difficulties are bring masked futures and lives are put on the line or on the market to get an even cheaper deal and the results are avoidance, further stereotypes and hypocrisy.
I don't mind being shrouded, it's being cloaked in misery that I oppose and forced to explain or answer my moods to everyone who doesn't want to get it.
The shut away feelings aren't nice but when the intensity shifts nothing numbs the pain and injustice. The good work isn't being encouraged its just diverting more heavy criticism back to the government who don't give a bony f**k whether society lives breathes or dies as long as no one gets frostbite we carry on with the same burdens of demands to increase it.
The s**t is currently irreversible as it never started in good faith to begin with
There's no emotional units to start a group club its either homes or offices. The recreational pastimes are just another local expense that councillors can't afford. There's a deluded spirit in the British people at the moment and human contact support groups have been missing for some time. You want convince go to the gym or your favourite cafe and then wash down your poxy day with enough hate to last the remaining legacies of a finished democracy frail in their beliefs that someone out there gives a s**t about them.
Oh well the advice I get is about as useless as a s**t storm coming towards the English channel in massive waves.
Why can't friendships exist where others unlike us fail to really explore them.
I need to find and channel back some of my unspent energy into better resources