NeuroTypical experiences needed!

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I, honestly, do not know about all the resources available to Asperger adults here, because I do not have first hand experience with it. However, there is a man in my building who is an Asperger adult who works for a company that helps Asperger adults as well as Autistic adults get employment. The art studio where my husband's friend works is also part of a larger network of programs for people on the spectrum as well, including Aspergers. I believe that they offer various supports. The art studio has some artists who are Asperger adults, and some artists who are non verbal and must travel with an aide, etc. I would suspect there are other services here too for Asperger adults. I live in NYC, though, and we just probably have a lot more resources, in general, here than many other places.

In short, the question here remains: how to find trusted advisors e.g., a wingman (outside of formal services serving disabled clientele)?

A wingman would act as a third person in face-to-face negotiations; relating to such agendas as housing/rental negotiations, just to name one of the complex everyday concerns that people with Aspergers (and even many NeuroTypicals) need help in handling?

Thank-you

I don't know, but if you find an answer, I would be very curious to hear it. I'm an NT who would happily help with such things and have discussed with my Aspie boyfriend if/how such a thing could be arranged, but we've not come up with a solution yet.

It seems like there's 3 ways that such a situation could be arranged:

- Some sort of formal, charity service for disabilities, like you mentioned, but I don't think most Aspies would want to use a disability service, and people who worked in it would likely have the wrong attitude if they viewed it as a disability
- Some sort of paid service, through which an Aspie could hire said "wingman" for a certain amount of time to take care of the issues - for example, 2 hours to go scout out a rental property and negotiate it with the landlords, or a half-hour to stop by the wingman's office and have them help write a letter to your insurance, etc.
- Some sort of informal "matchmaking" between NTs and Aspies to help out with things as needed, like for me to post my availability and some Aspie across town to be like "Hey, can you go help me at the bank Monday afternoon?"

All three have pros and cons. Myself, I'm inclined towards the last one as the best to all around once established, but it's the hardest to get started. The trouble is to figure out how to connect the Aspies and NTs, and I haven't come up with a solution for that yet.

As far as the other options, I think that a paid service would result in having a lot of people just in it for the money and a lot of Aspies needing the services but unable to afford it. With either one, I think that if they became well-known, it could contribute to the idea that Aspies were disabled and incompetent, rather than helping people understand that Aspies are highly intelligent and just have trouble navigating the NT world in some situations.

Anyway, if there is some sort of organization that does help Aspies and NTs team up for things like this, I'd love to her about it and try to join up and help. I know the things that have been struggles for my Aspie boyfriend that I've been able to help with, but I'd love to be able to help others as well.