Finding locals who share your interests

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Hello, I'm a newbie here.

I'm an autistic adult who lives in a relatively small town, near a medium-sized city. I have a lot of passionate interests -- theater, Doctor Who, writing, etc. -- but I've never quite been able to find a place to commune with people who share those interests. I can't participate in community theater because of work hours. No one ever seems to be throwing aDoctor Who viewing party at a local bar. I feel rather left out, and it's frustrating to only be around fellow fans a few times a year when I go up to Chicago for conventions. I have tried asking for ways to start my own group with my limited means (I do not drive, and I live with my family) but they haven't been helpful. And my family does not trust blindly attending online meetups and such. Any advice? Thanks.

Well, considering you're apparently new here, you can use this forum as a starting point. I can imagine there being at least a person or two who live (relatively) close to you and have similar interests. Sadly, though, I'm not one of those people.

I don't know what to tell you if online meetups aren't an option. They really aren't dangerous so long as they're in public places. Of all the ones I've looked at, only one wasn't. I didn't go to that one.

Maybe that medium-sized city has a local newspaper that you can read on-line, to find-out what things are happening, in that city.

Join a Star Trek group,
and you're quite likely to
run into Dr. Who fans.

If I lived closer to Chicago, I'd suggest meeting.

In any case, I wish you luck.

meetup.com has groups for nearly any interest you can imagine, and some you can't.
Typically, the groups are safe, but always make sure to take the regular first-timer precautions when meeting a group for the first time. (busy place, busy group, tell someone where you are going, agree to a time you will report in, things like that).

I have not had a group meeting (trough that site) end up being a dud, but being in europe, my experiences might differ.

Interesting you should mention this. Meetup.com has been a major source of social contact for me, even if my social outings have still been relatively few and far between. I am a very cautious and apprehensive person when it comes to meeting strangers for the first time, yet it's not occurred to me to inform someone I know where I'm going when I have a meetup event, nor do I check with anyone. I do, however, tend to avoid Meetup events that have less than 5 people attending, but that is more out of fear there will be less people I can relate to than anything else. The Meetups themselves have been hit and miss for me. Some I really enjoyed, others not so much. Ironically, the one where I've felt most out of place was an Introverts meetup. I was the most socially awkward person there, and that was quite a turn off for everyone else.

Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, my family might not approve of a Meetup.com event and agree to get me to and from, though I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask.

There is a regional paper that I just looked up, but none of the upcoming events interest me that much. I'm not into trivia nights (went to one once, was much duller than I expected), am not sure I'd fit into a Bible study group, have no interest in a fish fry or a concert by an artist I'm not passionate about, etc. But I'll try and keep my eyes peeled. Thanks for your advice.

Eh, I can see meetup being great if you're in an urban area. If you're not, then in my experience there really isn't anything unless you're a single mom, trying to organize play-dates for your home-schooled kid, fall for multi-level marketing schemes, or are sucked into sketchy groups pushing "Enlightenment," "Spiritual one-ness," etc. Not saying meetup is bad but just putting it out there that YMMV with it; people treat it like the be-all end-all solution for being devoid of social interaction.

Yeah, my area is only quasi-urban. Still, thanks for the suggestions.

Do you live in the Midwest? Which state is the "medium-sized" city in?

Don't worry LOL...I live in the Northeast.

If the "medium-sized" city is a college town, then I believe you'd definitely stand a better chance to meet people more like you.

you said you like writing? nanowrimo.org is an international online and irl community for creative writers (i make most of my best friends through that community ^_^)

best of luck!

Since you already go to Chicago several times a year, perhaps your energy would be better spent planning on making those trips more productive?

Maybe you could volunteer to help out the folks in Chicago--there may be things you can do even though you don't live there. That way you could learn about how these things run and have a better idea of how to run your own events.