Should there be an Aspergers (Autism) Anonymous?

Post Reply New Topic

That is exactly what I found it to be. The idea is about accepting something about yourself that you can not change, doing the best you can anyway, and forming some meaningful relationships with others who have similar condition. Or, just dropping in anonymously when you need to and not forming any relationships with anyone, which is what happened to me at the other meetings because I am AS and that is a core problem area.

I voted no. And there are already support groups. I would like to see the development of widespread ASD advocacy groups though, where a the membership was entirely made up of ASD people.

I would love to be able to have access to an "aspies anonymous" group. The focus of 12 step groups is to share information and experiences with one another, that one or more persons in the group may hear something that helps them with perspective-taking, to see the bigger picture, to work on their own awareness and connectedness… Only one person is allowed to speak at one time, which works for someone who is linear-thinking and easily overwhelmed. It helps to train the observer's listening skills and engage/exercise cognitive empathy. It gives validation and support and attention to the speaker, whose voice may not be heard in every day life. There is sharing of strategies, techniques and tips, so that those that work for one person may be exactly the thing that another is searching for…

I for one am highly systemising. I love trying to work things out, much like "the friendship algorithm" episode of The Big Bang Theory. If there were a way to systemise this pattern of neurodiversity, and its interface with the neurotypical world, and collectively work to refine this model for the good of all involved, I would be all for it.

It's fundamentally different to "group work", which I hate. It's consciously speaking, one at a time. And you only ever have to walk away with one small insight, reminder or piece of info that serves you and you have benefitted in a way that is much bigger than that - after all, all things are connected. It's the butterfly effect.

Yes, but how in the world are people going to admit they powerless over their AS/ASD because only Gawd can help them with it? 12-step is fundamentally religious and has been proven to not be an effective treatment. As they say, it's “an evangelical movement about saving souls”, not evidence based...anything. And there's no way I'm praying to a cruel, loving, all purpose deity to ask him to "fix" the core of who I am, 'cause he's just as likely to turn me into a guy just for laughs, or smite a race or some such.

Now, if you are talking about local meetups of people with AS/ASD just to trade tips, commiserate, support and *celebrate* each other, I'm all for it. Just so long as I don't have to leave home &/or talk to anyone new in person. Oh, hey! That's Wrong Planet!! !!

Hahaha I got a good laugh from that last paragraph in particular, and share the sentiment!

From my perspective "spirituality" (probably more like philosophy than religion) has been an integral part to my process of PERSONAL evolution but that is not my idea of what such a group would entail. I very much lean toward the logical and empirical side of things, however do believe that (as a scientist), open-mindedness is key to uncovering the truth about a situation, circumstance or problem, or to answer a question honestly. Therefore, to negate or rule out the possible "spiritual" aspect of a big picture equation would result in the kind of close-mindedness that organised religions themselves are so oft guilty of!

As for 12 step groups in general, I don't feel that they are highly efficacious for the scientifically-minded. In science, our knowledge of the universe is constantly being updated. AA is stuck in old literature that dates back to the ~40s/50s? It's outdated. I would like to see something that is a bit more progressive and up with the times, a bit of a focus on current research in autism and evolving social paradigms; how to raise awareness both in ourselves and the community, and have ourselves and our needs validated in a way that causes no harm to the other.

My own personal spiritual/philosophical beliefs are constantly in development, multi-faceted and all-inclusive. It's always and forever a work in progress. It's something along the lines that we all live in the matrix of a giant supercomputer that is the universe (the universe by its very nature is mathematical and contains information) and the source of energy/information for that computer is the source which theologians would most likely refer to as "God". "God" is executing an algorithm - a series of fundamental laws and principles - that is "programmed" in such a way that the inevitable outcome would be that God becomes aware and conscious of itself - a journey from unconscious unity through an experience of diffusion, back to "conscious re-unification", if you will. The more one conscious "mind" makes a conscious attempt to identify and amplify the signal from the source, the more one can manipulate information and channel this through more dimensions, and thus this information spills out into the other intrinsically interconnected components that occupy their own space/time and has knock-on effects that elevate the functionality of the system as an emergent whole.

This is to say, "the more conscious you become, the more you elevate the conscious of others", which is part of the whole "purpose" of our existence (and the reason for wanting such a group). I could call on validated scientific evidence from fields such as experimental physics to validate my philosophy, or I could quote information from ancient theological texts: the result would be the same; they are essentially saying the same thing in a different language. My point is, it's a philosophy that is not exclusive - it's consistent across all scopes of reasoning. To say that one, and NOT the other is correct is not exclusive at all, its innately INclusive! It's a denial of all that exists.

Yes, I do spend a lot of time thinking about this. If nothing else, I would love to have a group meeting just to discuss Life, The Universe and Autism.

But unlike you, I would at least like to have the OPTION of attending in person, albeit a sensory-friendly environment. It's something I could overcome my pathological hate of leaving the house for!

Incidentally, I just found this: https://sites.google.com/site/aspahq/about-aspa I am not sure what their philosophy is, exactly, but have flicked them an email to find out.