Feeling useless? Be an Aspie mentor!

Post Reply New Topic

I can feel down when I am "useless" or when I have too much time to think about the fact that I am not useful enough. However, in the context of my job and even outside of it, one thing that really allows me to feel more useful is being a "guide", a mentor for people less initiated in my fields of expertise. It is a win-win situation: good for my students or other people who asked for it and good for me. A situation, yes, with social aspects but with clear objectives and around subjects I am totally confortable with.

Now, if we stop and think about it, as adult Aspies/Auties with extensive theoretical knowledge about autism (since having often obsession about our "condition") we are experts in that specific field. Also, as adult Aspies/Auties with extensive practical knowledge (having already gone through a lot in our life and dealt with it more or less successfully) we are definitely some kind of autism on hand experts. So why not use all this knowledge to mentor younger Aspies who have experienced less? I am not talking about making videos for a general audience or answering to post like so many already do (which is great), but really investing in long term one-one mentor/tutor interactions.

I have noticed that many adults posting on WP are unemployed, so many might have sufficient free time to guide younger autistic people fairly "new". Yes, I know that Aspies/Auties can be champion at avoiding this kind of things, which can be very anxiogenic but, for some, it could be worth making the effort to do it. They might feel very useful doing it.

This project might have been suggested before, so have anybody actually tried to put it in place on WP?

Adele - This sounds interesting. I would love to be an Aspie mentor.

Rocket

I have been adviced to become one, but I don´t think, I know enough yet. One day, maybe.

This is something I would love to do!

The importance of social mentors in my life cannot be overstated. I am still young and figuring things out, so I don't know how good of a mentor I would be. I can pass on things that have helped me to guys who are younger than me.

Because we are such a small part of the population and have a knack for isolating ourselves, I believe it is especially important for us to be proactive in establishing support networks. These support networks are probably more valuable to us because we are not as good at building and maintaining support networks as more socially-able people.

How do I become a mentor

I'm not so sure anybody would want to be mentored by me lol

al

Probably not, but I think ANYONE would love to be invited to one of your parties!

On a more serious note; The one on one mentoring the OP mentioned is important. someone like, oom, would excel at teaching young people how to cook, do laundry, all those types of things that most autistics find too overwhelming.