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Since I attended the exact same meeting, I would like to give my take on it.

First off, the group is a social/support group that is offered by The Autism Society of Minnesota. For more info, visit http://www.ausm.org/Information/Support ... groups.htm.

Second, this is a well established group. You have adults of all ages, abilities, etc. They come from all over Minnesota (in fact, there is a person in the group that travels almost as far as I do). As we have seen in WP, when you get a group of Aspies together, there will be so many differences that there can be problems if there are not rules (same as large groups of NTs).

Finally, I get something out of it. It may be that I do not see things the way GH sees them or maybe I am looking for someplace that I can go to where I can be myself without being admonished. Since it works for me, I will continue to go.

I know what you were looking for, Ghosthunter, but you're right: the larger the group, the harder it is to find. I've only seen your "PG-17" working well in one place: the (NT) discussion groups at the church camp I went to age 13-16, where my friend Catherine was the facilitator. It worked there because she had such a strong personality to shape the atmosphere of the room. She made it absolutely clear that everyone was safe to talk honestly, and brought her own emotions out into the open first, to show people that it was ok to follow. But that was a group of teenagers who were happy to find a place to be expressive, and it sounds like most of the people at your group are looking for different things.

It's hard to balance shaping the atmosphere yourself by taking the lead with your PG-17 questions, and the danger of overwhelming people.

The best use for a group like that is probably to find people you could meet to devenomize with later, one-on-one.

Bye!

Bye!

Wow, Ghosthunter!

I was just reading this, and you seem upset. I hope your recent trip alleviates your feelings.