Does anyone volunteer/work with asd people?

Post Reply New Topic

If so, do you find that you are able to relate to them better because of shared characteristics?
What do you enjoy most?
Thanks

Not yet, but seriously working towards volunteer work with ASD people.

I find that I am pretty comfortable with the other Aspie people I know (a few friends and relatives). It is possible to have no overlapping interests with them, but an NT emotional barrier is "missing" when I am with fellow Aspies - there is no wall of incomprehensible emotional signals that leaves me feeling "alien" from the other person.

Best thing is when you share a special interest with another Aspie and can get really into it.

I agree about the emotional barrier. I find that I am able to understand why ASD people do some of the things they do and I can identify with them based on that, regardless of special interest. Good luck with your volunteer work

When I was younger, my parents made me go along when they volunteered for some kind of AS thing, mostly a support group for parents I think, but it was a bit more than that iirc. I hated it intensely. You see, they put me in a room full of people with aspergers, which would not have bothered me at all, except that they were my own age. I loved old people, and I hated teenagers, and I discovered that people with AS between the ages of 12 and 14, well, there's not a nice way to say it, I found them to be extremely annoying.

At those meetings I would have to contend with the horrifying realization that yes, a part of me wanted to bully these children. I would try to just fall asleep, usually, because if I was awake I would have to hear them converse about stupid pop-culture garbage, mostly Japanese. Parents, don't make your kids do good deeds, they'll resent it.

edit: I no longer dislike the presence of autistic people (unless they act like dicks but that goes for everybody), and am currently looking into how I can make the most impact as a volunteer working with autistic people)

Yes, and yes.

I'm a volunteer math tutor in a school for high functioning autistic children. I can relate to the students in ways that their teachers can't, because I can understand what's so overwhelming when they're having a hard time, while they're teachers are having to approach it entirely behaviorally.

I work with children with more severe autism and learning difficulties.

I find I'm usually the first to work out why a kid is upset, if the upset has been caused by noise, change in environment, light, too many people etc because I'm usually freaking out about it too.
I'm quite good at calming children who are having meltdowns. Rather than talking to them like most other people seem to do, I'll look at it logically: what is making them upset, how can I change it, what stim calms them down.

People often comment on how I behave like one of the kids (in a good way, not moaning at me about it!) - I guess NT's have that level of "I'm the adult, you're the child." which I do as well when it's necessary, but for instance a kid at work loves wheels. He spends all day rolling around on a skateboard on his belly. One day I got one out of the cupboard and got down there with him and just followed him around doing the same things he did (counting stones, spinning wheels on toy cars etc) and my colleagues thought it was amazing that I'd connected with him so well. I hadn't really, I just thought I'd see why he liked it so much and found out it was fun too. By the end of the day all the staff and children were doing what we were doing.
I can also spend much longer doing repetitive actions with children than my colleagues can. I'm happy to sit in the sensory room looking at things for as long as the child is, whereas other people get bored.

Yes i volunteer at a Multi Sports Club for adults with autism including asperger's syndrome and i find it quite enjoyable and get on with them quite well too.

Yes, I work in tertiary education supporting students with a wide range of disabilities including ASDs.
I do relate to the difficulties encountered by students with ASDs, but have to admit that for a long time I was confused as to why I was supporting these students because to me they just seemed "normal" to me ... and I got through tertiary education without support. However, when I realised that this was because I also had an ASD, I realised that I am probably one of the people most able to provide advice and support in this context due to my personal experiences.

I completely agree!

I haven't done any volunteer work since we moved to this town in 2001. However, they built a house that is to be a group home directly behind my house. I don't know what kind of group home it will be but rumor has it now that it's for adults with mental handicaps, so I assume that some moderately autistic adults will live there as well as others.

I am actually going to see if I can get a job there first, but if not I do plan on volunteering some if they take volunteers. Not only would that give me something to do and help others but it would also give me a chance to show them what I can do and my work ethic so when they are hiring I will have a better chance of getting on. Plus it's literally right behind my house. It's maybe a three minute walk, tops. The only drawback would be that I'd be the one who always got called in at the last minute because I could be there in five minutes.

That sounds really cool, and it is encouraging to me to hear that you relate so well to the students because of your ASD. I am in the process of organising with a high school to mentor one or two Aspie students in IT and possibly mathematics, and I have no idea what to expect yet. So I am glad to read about your experience.

I used to tutor a classmate with Moderate Classic Autism. While he's nonverbal, he communicates with sign language and verbal prompts. (For example, he could sign "no" and try to say no at the same time.)

Despite him being on a different end of the spectrum, I related to him a lot.

If that's the case they must consider you a valuable member of their team. Why are you only a volunteer? Is that your choice or theirs?

At my sixth form, I volunteered to spend some of my breaks and lunchtimes at the lower school ASD Resource Centre...I believe I'm due to start next week, or sometime this week.

A psychologist I spoke to said it is good for mature-aged Aspies to mentor the ones in senior years of high school, and for the senior high school students in turn to mentor the younger school students.

Sounds like you are doing the right thing then. I think it is a great idea.

It would be interesting to hear what happens.

I, too think it's a great idea...I can't wait to start. Also, I'll probably report back my experiences of it.