Support Groups

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How many people here have been to a support group?

What is (was) it like?

Do (did) you like it or find it helpful?

If you have never had a chance to go to one, would you if you did?

I have been attending one lately. It is not normally something I'd do but I was invited and said yes in a sort of throw-caution-to-the-wind moment. I like it. It's nice to be in a non-judgmental environment and one where I don't have to worry about fitting in, or whether or not to reveal that I have AS, or whatever. It's interesting to compare experiences and perceptions as such. So, so far I've been very happy with it. (I don't want to go into too much detail to protect the identities of the other people in the group. And no, unfortunately, you can't join if you happen to live nearby.)

I'd be interested to hear about others' experiences.

I have never been to one, I am unsure if I would go if I had the chance.

I am joining a nh aspie support group. I will let you know. So far, meeting other aspies has been pleasant, relaxing, and I feel normal around them. In NY you should have an aspie association with support groups. Join one by all means.

I attended the Raleigh, NC support group for 3 years until they stopped having it. I made friends who I could go out and do things with.

I've been going to the one here and as opposed to 4-6 members, this group has around 24, usually with 15-18 being at a particular outing or meeting. There's less time to talk in the meeting, but more people to meet. I like it so far. Oregon is cool.

Yes I have been to a support group and I find them helpful. I feel I fit right in.

There are stim toys there and people there seem normal. They all chit chat. I haven't heard there "How are you?" "How have you been?" "How's the weather?" It's just conversations about stuff. Both I have been to now are structured and we all take turns too talk. it is still hard for me to not interrupt. The leader picks a topic for us all to discuss. The one I went to on Friday, we did show and tell. I shared my B&J stuff. Then we talked about household structure and executive dysfunction and what we do to help ourselves. I said I keep my bills in the same spot so I won't lose them since I have tendency to lose things so I try and keep them in the same spot and I pay my bills around the same time every month towards the end.

I'm going to another one today. It's always every second Sunday of every month but because next week is Easter Sunday, the church will be full with workshops. The third Sunday would have been out of the question and I forget the reason why.

I haven't really made any new friends, just acquaintances.

I'm glad to hear at least a few other people have had positive experiences with support groups.

The particular one I go to is very limited in who can attend since it's tied to my university. (It's for students only.) Apparently there are quite a lot of students with AS there though most of them have declined to participate in the group. (I guess that is not surprising, I only started going on a rare whim to begin with ... and it is the first time I have ever been to any kind of "group" in my life.)

I've never been to a support group. But there is a youth club near where I live for aspies/auties I really want to go but I'm too embarrassed to ask my mum because I'm worried she'll say "you don't need to go to those places you're practicly normal" or something along those lines. Because I suggested it the other year and she said that. But it shouldn't matter though, just because I'm mild doesn't mean I can't go to that youth club does it?
It's not just limited to rainmans

I hve been .

I am very independent and high functioning at this point in my life.


Most were very low functioning and in need of much extra support. I felt pretty bad. But they were inspiring in that they just kept going. I am quiet about my aut. I tell no one. They were very bold about it.

It would have been nice to find a group where I was more like everyone else. I seem to always been an anomoly somewhere.

But they were nice. It just felt tooo institutional. Made me feel like I was going back into the past.

I have been to three very different kinds of support group.

One was an informal group that met and was great.

Another was in a large and very mixed group which I quite enjoyed but found the travelling too much. This group made me appreciate just how much I had progressed and also touched my heart because of the suffering of some of the members who just could not quite get things together.

The third group was a clique that I got in the way of and after being made to feel unwelcome by one person, I left. Never again.

Despite some hit and miss experiences, I do think that support groups are a good thing since many of us tend to become isolated.

Say you want to be a volunteer to build a resume for college and work. The youth club has aspies and autistics hang out in the same room with staff members and nuerotypical volunteers. nobody asks you whether you have aspereger's or not.

I've been to a parent support group that got invaded by Aspies, plus a support group specifically for AS. Both were acceptable. I'll admit I go to the first mostly to make sure autistic people aren't completely left out of it!

Yeah ... since "my" group is for university students, the low-functioning are obviously left out.