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Selena
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29 Feb 2012, 9:35 pm

Has anyone have lived in a particular geographic location--whether specific country or city or region--they found to be more accepting of aspie qualities? I don't mean the best place to hide but a place where you felt you could interact comfortably with people.



DJRAVEN66
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29 Feb 2012, 10:07 pm

Simpely put NO. I find it best for me to hide.



Daj
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29 Feb 2012, 10:13 pm

I would speculate that perhaps the Midwest may be the best in the United States of America. People tend to be quieter, and more reserved. Also, it is thought of as rude to pry into others business. Traditionally, it would be shameful to judge someone. However, there are always howevers now-a-days, there is great demographic mingling and regional traits are in the final death throes in this year in age I would say.



questor
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29 Feb 2012, 10:17 pm

So far just living alone, and surfing the I-net here at Wrong Planet. I don't know of any other spectrum friendly locations to live, or visit, except maybe spectrum sites I have not visited yet.


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Selena
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29 Feb 2012, 10:22 pm

Daj wrote:
I would speculate that perhaps the Midwest may be the best in the United States of America. People tend to be quieter, and more reserved. Also, it is thought of as rude to pry into others business. Traditionally, it would be shameful to judge someone. However, there are always howevers now-a-days, there is great demographic mingling and regional traits are in the final death throes in this year in age I would say.


Your experience there must have been very different than mine. I lived in that region for several years, found most of the people to be highly judgmental and suspicious of anyone different in anyway. The small towns were the worst, pure living hell of pursed lips, narrowed eyes and gossip about those who don't conform. Cities there, like urban areas most anywhere in my experience, offer a bit more latitude and tolerance.



Daj
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29 Feb 2012, 10:26 pm

Ive lived there since I was 1, (27 years), and have found the opposite. But, it is a large area. I have lived in the suburbs, not in the cities or rural areas. I do find urban and rural areas the most abrasive to myself. Maybe its because im not used to them, but I think it is because of sociological reasons. This is an interesting conversation to have...



Selena
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29 Feb 2012, 10:45 pm

I love nature and so have tried a couple of times to live in rural areas. Unfortunately living near lots of trees also means living near small towns which are rife with malicious gossip. Overall, I prefer cities because they--the larger ones especially--allow for anonymity, plus the scale for what is considered weird is much broader. For me, suburbs feel like a weak compromise, offering the worst of both rural and urban rather than the best of each--but obviously each individual has her/his own perspective.

Currently, I am trying to move beyond the city/suburbs/country divisions to think about whether there some specific geographic areas--perhaps those that already have a high concentration of aspies?--which are more friendly to our type of difference. For instance, everyone says the Silicon Valley area is full of aspies. I have never been there, don't know if that is just the techie=aspie stereotype. I also read somewhere--maybe elsewhere on this forum, can't remember now--an aspie saying s/he (can't remember who said it) felt most at home in Ireland. The person speculated it was because of notion of Irish fairies.

So between the two extremes of tech geeks and fae folk, wondering if anyone here has any experience of some place on earth that doesn't make aspies feel like the name of this site is true.



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29 Feb 2012, 11:42 pm

In my own home, on WP.


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29 Feb 2012, 11:58 pm

Daj wrote:
I would speculate that perhaps the Midwest may be the best in the United States of America. People tend to be quieter, and more reserved. Also, it is thought of as rude to pry into others business. Traditionally, it would be shameful to judge someone. However, there are always howevers now-a-days, there is great demographic mingling and regional traits are in the final death throes in this year in age I would say.


I am from the midwest and do not really agree with this.

I think College can be really good or really bad. In my short stint of college I happened to live on the same floor as a group of people who were digital media majors. They were fairly different than a lot of people so I fit in fairly well.



Subotai
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29 Feb 2012, 11:58 pm

Well each individual is unique and has different troubles stemming from their AS, my opinion will obviously be biased toward my own situation, but...

Japan, I find. I've only experienced Tokyo but Japanese people don't expect foreigners to conform to their society 100% as long as you respect taboo.
They often don't know what to expect from foreigners and give a lot of leeway.
Note I'm talking about white foreigners, other ethnicities will often be viewed differently.

I'd imagine it would not be very good for a Japanese person with aspergers.



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01 Mar 2012, 8:15 am

I think cities in the Pacific northwest would be good--Seattle, Portland, Eugene. It is frequently overcast/rainy there, so those with sensitivity to sunlight would have an easier time of it. The local culture celebrates weird, hipster-type people who pursue non-mainstream interests (as parodied in the show "Portlandia".) There are a lot of tech companies there, just like Silicon Valley.



Callista
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01 Mar 2012, 8:20 am

Geographic locations, no; but I've always found universities--especially the science and math departments, and to some extent the drama/music/art departments--to be particularly AS-friendly. My own university is disability-friendly in general, and they are used to accommodating everything from schizophrenia to quadriplegic wheelchair users to ADHD and dyslexia. Add disability-friendly to nerd-friendly, and you get autism-friendly.


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Hexagon
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01 Mar 2012, 10:23 am

Cities - with sound proofed rooms. No one seems to care about anyone, which is what I really want. Yes, there is too much noise, but music can fix that for me, and no one stops in the street to talk to you, or cares if you wear sunglasses when its cloudy.