Creating Aspy Places To Hang Out Together

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My older son once had a job at a RGP card gaming place where they sold retail stuff related to Advanced D&D, Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, etc. Then, at night, they'd do gaming. The place was full of young aspy males.

At my son's high school, they had an anime' club. It seems that a lot of aspy girls bond and create friendships around anime. If I weren't so busy with my autistic daughter, we'd be working on a business that combined carding and anime. It would be like an aspy bar.

That sounds like a very good idea.

Tim

I like that idea! I'd like to go to an aspie bar, if one existed.

I am really interested in this! It would be amazing if there was an aspie bar. I've always thought of aspergers as a kind of underground culture. It would be amazing if there was a place to get together and socialize according to our own social rules. Maybe this would be a great way for an aspie to be self-employed.

It would work very well as a business. My son's social worker said that there isn't anything good for aspies right now and this seems like a business that would flourish.

The card gaming place by my house had a small evolution. A guy gave the owner a bunch of old sciience fiction books. It turned out to be a good idea. The customers loved the science fiction addition. It was a natural outgrowth, Now they're a science fiction/fantasy bookstore and a gaming place.

Eclectic neighborhoods come very close, though.

Tim

What is it about anime? I saw some anime where the pictures looked attractive, the storyline was odd and might encourage a curious person to watch and, at least one, had music that seemed mesmerizing. It is times like that I wish I learned Japanese. I used to have three cousines, and an aunt that knew Japanese. I guess I blew that.

BTW If people are TRULY interested, etc.. Frankly, I would like to start a company and wouldn't be adverse to starting a tax free charity and donate funds to it to try to create some kind of chain of aspie meeting places. Maybe it can start online, and grow to IRL!

There should be an Aspergian centre chain like the McDonald's chain (or the YMCA!). With a psychiatrist and a psychologist on hand with antidepressants, lol, and sections for diagnosed Aspies and undiagnosed Aspies, and a place where they can intermingle. Also, rooms, like at the YMCA. For people to live in. And facilities that a lot of Aspies like, like computers for them to go on WP or do whatever (and posters advertising Aspie sites!)

The real trick would be figuring out where to have it. It would need to be in a city with a large enough Aspy population to have an actual clientelle.

that's true. Eclectic colleges are similar as well. I'd recommend the College of Santa Fe for any Aspy or anyone with a disability in general.

Hmn. .

and chess. Musn't forget the chess. . .


I like the idea of somewhere that NTs can come- they just need to know that in that place, the rules are aspie. . . a reversal of the norm. . .

cool, a great method of being social is going to places where the people like the same things u do. like an anime club for example.

i would go to an aspy bar to do fun stuff.

You wouldn't have to advertise such a place as being for aspies, and it would probably attract more aspies if you didn't. I've been dreaming of a place like that.

Here's my thoughts on you of the thing you'd want:

- a building. Reasonably central, close to public transport, large enough.

- computers. Mac hardware? running Windows XP, Linux, and Mac OSX. Programing environments, graphical art tools, word processors, music creation studio software. And headphones. Could charge for using the computers, but I don't think a pay-per-time system would work well. Maybe pay-for-access? And a small shop selling hardware/software/support.

- a projector, couches, and a sound system. For watching of anime/demos/random films/random music videos, and anything else that anyone wants to show. (Demos as in the demoscene)

- a room for tabletop gaming. Card games (like M:TG), and role playing games like D&D, as well as board games like chess. Maybe a gaming store as well?

- perhaps a small library? with books on aspergers, dyslexia, ADD, ADHD, and other differences, as well as programming, gaming, life skills, art and crafts, mechanics, social skills and other interesting/useful topics, and a fiction section focusing on science fiction/fantasy, as well as manga and comics.

- some way to get food and drink. Vending machine at the very least, possibly a small cafe? And actual food, not just coke and chips.

- plenty of couches, and places to just talk to people, as well as places with desks to just work on things, read, or think, with free paper and pens/pencils for sale.

- a counselor. Someone friendly who you can talk to with no history, no worries about them discussing your issues with other people, no disagreements. For when you just need someone to talk to. Could have the first session free, or something? Because when you want to talk to someone, you don't want to have to pay for the privilege. Preferably someone with experience working with people with aspergers.

- Perhaps a record store? specializing in non-mainstream music, listen before you buy.

- a workshop. With crafts materials, and places to work on a project. A place for welding/metal-working as well.

- Noticeboards, where people can advertise anything at all. With a jobs section.

- Maybe an area for painting/graffiti art/sculpture?

- A place to stay? Just a few rooms with bunk beds, and lockers, cheap and quiet.

- Lightning with no fluorescent lights, and no uncovered bulbs. All lighting would be behind fabric, or aimed at the ceiling. And a policy on noise/music. (If I can hear it, it's too loud.)


The idea is that in the computing section, you could talk programming, and computer gaming, and operating systems, and talk about the internet, and even computer security. In the gaming area, you could discuss the metagame for an upcoming MTG tournament, or talk about booster drafting, or discuss the results of chess competitions, or talk about other games that I can't give examples from. The room with the projector would be the place to talk anime and AMVs, and the same for the craft area, the library, etc. You could talk about anything at all, as long as the other person talks back.

As of this post, it is now a life goal of mine to create such a place in Christchurch, New Zealand. It would host the Christchurch anime tribe (which recently collapsed when the couple hosting/running it had a baby), and perhaps I could talk to Chris, who runs the Wizards Retreat gaming store. I could handle to computing side, and I know someone who'd be able to get the craft area going.I'd still be a lot of work, and require a lot of money. However, it could actually make money once started.

Once you have a central meeting place though, I could find people to run the gaming/computer/food/craft/art bits easily, because there is now a meeting place for passionate, skilled people with expertise in those areas. I think it could really work.

I very much like the idea of an aspie bar and would certainly hang out their if their was 1.

With all the things going for it, it could attract nice NTs as well! One more thing though. Seats would have to be for comfortable seating, ******NOT****** herding! That means:

1. no common armrests, no chairs back to back witout a final minimum of say 1.5 feet between people on either side.
2. things would be placed on the assumption of a minimum of 2 feet personal space.

You could also offer a nice line of REAL supplements. Done right, costs could be low and profits/sales high. There is a lot of garbage out there, and a lot of the stuff doesn't fit with general or mental health.

These all sound like good ideas so far, but still, I wouldn't even consider going to the place if there wasn't any videogames.