*The European WP Meet in Central Southern France!*

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Since there is a strong connection between senses and emotions, it is almost inevitable for people who experience sensory overload to also experience emotional overload.
It is the same for me. The future may be easier, though - as WP grows larger and larger, some of us may be able to have monthly/weekly WP meets closer to home. (WP members near London are already having such meets).

I've been thinking!

I think that the main reason why this weekend was such an intense and wonderful experience is because I went along willing, and prepared, to accept almost everything. A bit like when you're a child/young, and do it much more automatically. And why it was also very tiring; I couldn't have kept it up for much longer than the three/four days. After all people train for years, in buddhist and enlightened christian contexts, to be able to do it; accept everything, ( by learning to dismiss all judgement/beliefs ).

I think that the reason why a couple of people had near or actual meltdowns on the Sunday might be because they too had been investing energy in "accepting" everything, ( because for many people this is "simpler", if no less "expensive" in terms of energy expenditure, than being assertive, in a measured and balanced way about one's own needs in a group context ), and when they ran out of energy to do that simply exploded/crashed. I know that I was starting to "tense" a bit about some things by the Sunday too.

I was wondering whether this is something that a lot of people on the spectrum do in order to handle "life" in general, and why we "overload" so much compared to NT's, need regular downtime, because we find it so hard to achieve the compromise between the two extremes, ( the other extreme being a hyper-sensitive and highly judgemental reaction to everything ), the black and white thinking AS are supposedly prone to making it very difficult to find a middle position.

Could this also be why we almost never disagreed with each other? Because in person at least, many of us don't know how to disagree without taking up a polarised position? And in person this risks becoming unpleasant.

What do others think? Is this maybe why so many of us found/find socialising so exhausting? ( and not just because of sensory issues, or missing lots of signals ). Either we tend to have to accept everything, which takes a lot of energy, or we judge/criticise and can not stop judging/criticising?

Would it be because we tend to have/hold more black and white/'digital" judgements/beliefs than NT's, or because we have not learned self-assertiveness skills, ( perhaps because we miss, and/or fail to make, a lot of the subtle signals involved in/required for "normal"/"natural" self-assertiveness ), or both?

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A French Connection topic

So some of you actually met? and now the let down because you may never see each other again? I think it is amazing everyone got this far!

I will probably not meet anyone. There are a couple of aspies here in Barrie and so far I have never seen them. Incognito, I guess.

I do prefer to read people, but I know some like to see the human behind the words. Well. maybe someday, but until then, I know you by what you all write here!! !

Actually, you could well be quite surprised!! !

PS The wonders of the modern postal service. The postcards I posted to the UK on Saturday May 30th, were finally delivered yesterday, June 10th

As KenG has just resurrected the WP European Meet Up thread because of thinking about one for next year I thought I'd bump this one for the memories, and also give the link again to the thread which Darth posted ( in the Members Only Forum ) of the photos people took there.

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt100317.html

Hmm. Another one next year, but much bigger, says KenG!

Would it be so nice with a 100+ people? ( it was fun being a little group. ) Maybe, if we found a really gorgeous place to stay, ... somewhere interesting, and I can see that it's a long way to come for four days with just 7 other people, KenG ( from Israel ).

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It would be nice in a different way.
I'm a great supporter of small autistic/neurodivergent gatherings, but they need to happen in addition to large scale autistic/neurodivergent gathering.
Exactly
Especially since I'm dreaming of a large autistic/neurodivergent movement that will take the world by storm, make a huge impact upon popular culture and positively transform the lives of neurodivergents forever and ever.
(8 people who hang around together in French cafes for a few days can't ignite such a movement. Even a hundred people who hang around in an English castle for a few days can't ignite such a movement. We need the neurodivergent masses, the masses...).

Some people on the Autscape-Chat list suggested that if we want autistic/neurodivergent gatherings to become more popular, we need to make them more frequent? Is that true?

I think it might be. The number of people going to the WP London Meet-Ups which Lotusblossom organises every couple of months, or even more often, has increased since it became a "regular" event. I suspect it's because people can count on it, count on it happening, safely invest in it, are familiar with the idea, and also don't "have to" suppress almost all desire to do it again ( because it was so wonderful that it hurt to come back from it, with no prospect of another for months or longer ).

But more frequent meet-ups would have to be more "local", less expensive, easier to get to for more people, like Lotusblossom's long half-days in London which a lot of people can get to on a relatively frequent basis.

Very few people can or want to go away for more than a day or two, except in the main holiday periods, and the trouble then is that venues are at their most expensive, and couldn't do it more than once or, at a stretch, twice a year.

These are all problems that Autscape has looked at, and is why they hold their event once a year in August in the south of England ( mostly ), ... and 70 people is a huge achievement seeing that this spring our talking about a two/three day WP event only led to eight of us meeting away from the London hub of european membership.

Find somewhere cheap, really cheap, and essentially offer a budget holiday, in AS/neurodivergent company, at peak holiday season, and it might attract a lot of people.

We need rich sponsors, with beautiful places to let us have for free!

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Sinai ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinai_Peninsula ).
We could stay in straw/clay huts for about 5 pounds per person per day. Food is also very cheap and there are plenty of budget flights between Europe's main cities and Sinai's main airport (Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport).

The only problem with Sinai is frequent Islamic terror alerts, but this never deters people from going there.

They are. KenG just pointed me to this thread and the emotion is very big for the reader as well. I have a big dream to visit Andalucia and Morocco in two years' time - and was moved to see ouinon suggested the latter for a possible reprise, before becoming overwhelmed by sadness after the RL encounter and momentary respite from isolation. To this outsider - always a 'joiner', seldom a true 'insider' - I too long for that sort of belongingness. I am exploring resources and contacts closer to where I live, and can't find any, but would travel a long way, I think, for such a precious moment. I really congratulate all of you for taking that big leap, and feel more than a little envious. Thank you for sharing.

I don't think ouinon is around any more? Also, this is a very old thread - nearly two years since the last post.

Well this sucks, I'm French and quite poor, I could do with a French gathering!

I'd be up for a French WP meetup. That's if it were going to happen.

Wouldn't that depend where it was in France? Getting to Paris would be a lot easier for you than getting to the Bordeaux in the south of France or Martinique in the Caribbean, for instance.

I'd still be up for it, if I took someone with me.

I suppose if people could tie it in to a holiday or something then it wouldn't be too bad.

What about a Belgium meet?

In Bruges? ... Or Amsterdam in Holland/The Netherlands?