How was Autreat 2010?

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Autreat 2010 ended yesterday:
http://www.autreat.com/

Several people from WP were at Autreat this year. (not me, though).

Can anyone give us a summary of Autreat 2010?
How was it? How many people attended it? What were its best parts? What were its worst parts? etc.

I am interested too.

I went! It was fun. I'd never been before, but I went along with Jack Robison (my boyfriend) and Alex Plank. We were the only people who brought tents, though some other people brought an RV all the way from Colorado.

I didn't go to a lot of the talks though (I was often tasked with guarding film equipment while Jack and Alex went to talks to look for people to interview, etc) but it was very cool to meet so many other people on the spectrum. It was so intriguing that on the surface, someone comparing me to another autistic would think us very different, but on the inside many of our problems are the same. It was fun talking with everyone.

It was a weird sort of culture shock to be around so many QUIET people. A very welcome shock though. I found on return that coming back into the world of loud, talkative people was a little jarring. Over the days, I eventually stopped thinking about what I was doing with my face and body, so I sort of had to relearn how to appear NT in public hahaha. Part of me misses how peaceful and relaxed it was there.

Hopefully someone who actually went to more talks can share, because I don't have much info on that...

Clay blogged about it:
"we come to Autreat - to socialize with others on our own terms, in ways that don't overwhelm us. Some of us actually need to learn how to talk with other people, while for others, who live alone as I do, it's a nice change of pace. In just those few days, I talked with, (and listened to) more people than I have in the past year. My suite mates were very nice, we talked a bit while I was having breakfast and coffee, and while watching a bit of TV at night. My room mate was especially nice, and I enjoyed talking with him a bit on a personal level before we went to sleep. I had never really experienced that "dorm room mate" thing before, as I only went to a community college for a couple of years, and there were no dorms.
And finally, the other main reason we come to Autreat is the lectures. Many of them were excellent, carefully planned, well thought out, and masterfully presented. I'm not going to try to regurgitate what was said, and I'm certainly not going to get into the "politics" of anything, but I do want to hit a few highlights":
http://cometscorner-clay.blogspot.com/2 ... -2010.html
"In all, it was nice to see some old friends and acquaintances again, some I had first met eleven years ago, and it was nice to meet some new people. Autreat is an experience I highly recommend, especially to those who are newly diagnosed, as I was the first time I went. It's the very best place to get the most accurate first-hand information, whether you are autistic or related to an autistic person. They sell T-shirts, but they don't sell any woo there".
The full post is here:
http://cometscorner-clay.blogspot.com/2 ... -2010.html

Sounds like fun! I wish I could have gone, but it was too far away for me. If you ever hear of something like this happening in the western U.S., please post it, as I would like to attend.

E333

Sounds like fun! I wish I could have gone, but it was too far away for me. If you ever hear of something like this happening in the western U.S., please post it, as I would like to attend.

E333

Heck, you've got to be joking. Autistic people can be quite talkative, and some of them talk non-stop! The only reason I was quiet that day we went for dinner is because I did not know when to take a turn in the conversation, and had trouble following it altogether because it was moving so fast. I'm sure that's how other autistic people are... give them the opportunity to contribute something of interest, and they'll be happy to share it!

Autreat was like heaven. I slept 2 hours the first night and then 6 hours every following night. I spent the rest of the time either at the presentations or talking to people. It was amazing... I've never, ever had the opportunity to socialize with others for such extended stretches of time. The conversations were very fulfilling, too, and I've learned a lot.

MathGirl- Were you one of the people who participated in the AAAAA?

I am Mitch, the presenter from the MIT Media Lab. I did not get contact information for people though most of that can be found on the email list in any case.

Yes, I am the one! I wrote about my childhood experiences in the booklet and included a couple of pictures with it.

I'm kind of happy that I did not ask for many people's contact information explicitly (and not many people asked me for mine) just because I already have a tremendous amount of contacts. Being a very scatterbrained, disorganized person, I have a VERY difficult time keeping up with so many people in addition to all of the other things I have on my schedule.

That being said, I would absolutely love to see you and everyone else I've gotten acquiainted with there again next year, if I get the chance to go again!

Does anyone know how my presentation went? I wasn't there. (The one about how functioning labels are crap both scientifically and ethically.)

It was excellent; one of my favourite presentations there. In one place, I think you put the audio for one slide on a different slide. That was the only mistake you've made, as far as I can remember.

Oh, that would've been Morton. I sent her the text and she did the audio and the slides for me. And cool, I'm glad it went well. My mom suddenly developed a bunch of health problems (long-term unfortunately) so I couldn't get there but I really wanted to go.

I wanted to go very badly, but it would have meant missing my most significant doc appointment since my Dx, which is involved getting me off of all my medications that I was prescribed as a result of my years of misdiagnoses. If I rescheduled,I wuold have had to wait three more months. I will go next year!

Jerry also blogged about Autreat 2010:
"4-5 Days of the Autistic and Aspergers community, For and By Austitics, one short cram writing
before the equivalent of finals today...":
http://novapeers.pbworks.com/Autreat201 ... ntsIRantOn

I read about it on Cat in a Dog's World. It sounds wonderful. I would like to go next year.

Jerry blogged some more about Autreat 2010:
"Going to Autreat, a Conference For and By Autistics, was a culture shock of sorts.
I wasn't sure I'd be welcomed despite spending years around and probably having a lot of the characteristics/ symptoms of Aspie, though not formally diagnosed...":
http://novapeers.pbworks.com/AutieCultu ... malSociety