Been to social groups for people with ASD's/AS?

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There are just groups for socializing and others where the focus is more for feedback. At one place the groups are for ASD's and the other they are for AS. I'm probably very high functioning as far as communication and haven't been find to have AS.

here's one
http://www.jssa.org/web/guest/workshops ... e_Lifespan
the other:
http://www.towson.edu/chp/caasd/

the first one is having sesssions that are a long drive for me at this pt. hopefully the course(s) I'm looking for start in MD soon.

anyone?

I've been to a local meeting, but it turned out to be mostly of NT parents trying to learn how to deal with their AS kids. I never went back.

I haven't been to those specific meetings but I've been one nonetheless. It was ok I guess, it was just for getting to know others with AS, more of a social thing rather than 'lessons'. I've only been a few times partly because like usual, I'm the odd one out. Everyone was interested with talking about computers, video games etc & I don't know anything about them.
I guess I should be used to this experience by now.

I regularly attend a club for people with autism. The goal isn't to better understand ourselves, or to learn life skills, or to learn social skills. We just hang out and talk: about what we've been up to, about school, politics, whatever. Sometimes we read the paper, or play board games. There are between 6-10 people who show up regularly, and another five or so who show up irregularly. Sometimes people come and just sit by themselves and read or play on their computer. The group is allegedly led by an accessibility services advisor for my university, but he's never shown any interest in pulling rank. He just hangs out and joins whatever conversation is going on. It's pretty cool.

I am recently diagnosed.

Bad experience with support group

A close neurotypical friend who wanted to know more about AS went with me to a so-called support group run by NTs (therapists) and I didn't like it at all. Don't get me wrong: I get on pretty well with many NTs. My psychologist is an NT. So are most of my friends, and my mother, with whom I have a good relationship. I just think these support group people had some programme to sell, and they seemed more interested in driving their agenda than in meeting the needs. I was the only person who displayed any genuine interest in one woman who was distraught over her recently-diagnosed teenager's problems.

I was one of the only Aspies there. The others were mainly parents of autistics. I felt tense most of the time and had a hard time keeping quiet. My NT friend said he learned a lot.

Good experience with social group

About a week or two later I attended a meeting of the Wallpapering Society, a support group which also functions as a social club. I liked it a lot. It's run by Aspies, not NTs; the NTs who came were one guy's wife and his best friend, who brought a date. I was the only Aspie woman that night. We went ten-pin bowling, which is not an activity which inspires me in the least, but I was keen to find out what it would be like to be in a whole group of Aspies. I really enjoyed that. It was a bit high-noise and I was tired, but I felt at ease in the company. I felt that the pressure was off for me to conform to NT manners, something which I can do deftly enough, but which I like to drop when permitted to do so. I look forward to the next get-together, which will be a games evening.

Please note: I am not doing this for lack of company. I have a number of NT friends (or perhaps not quite NT, but not AS either) who would be happy to do something else with me, things which I enjoy, like chess or just visiting. But I feel like that shapeshifter guy in Star Trek, the one who was the security officer, who sometimes likes to return to his natural state (which in his case is a blob of gel) when his duties are over.

And dogs can be best friends with cats, but they want to romp in a field with other dogs from time to time.

Hey, you gave me an idea. I think I will start an Aspie club in my own area.