Join me as I share 12 years of experience of building friendships (and losing some!) through groups with other autistic people, both online and in person.
The time is shown for your local timezone.
twitter.com/i/spaces/1nAJE…
The time is shown for your local timezone.
twitter.com/i/spaces/1nAJE…
You will learn about different types of friendship groups and get tips for making them work well.
You'll also learn some of the things that could go wrong and how to minimise misery if things don't work out between you and others.
Autistic friendship groups work best if we obliterate certain allistic conventions for events.
Learn how to optimally autify online and offline get-togethers.
Learn how to optimally autify online and offline get-togethers.
Feel free to come with questions, and if I have experience with the topic, I will share it.
Examples:
Examples:
Including non-autistic people: Yes? No? And if so, what are helpful rules?
How do we include autistic children?
What if I don't get along with someone in the group?
Can I exclude people I don't like?
What's the easiest, most stress-free type of group?
How do we include autistic children?
What if I don't get along with someone in the group?
Can I exclude people I don't like?
What's the easiest, most stress-free type of group?
What if I heroically start a group and within the first day I realise I can't cope at all? Or nobody comes to a thing I organise? Or people complain? Aaaargh, will I ever have friends? 😭
I don't wanna go out, but I want friends. Even if it's not in person, I am afraid that friends will exhaust me. With all these complicated considerations, how do I avoid getting defeated before I even start?
(These are some of the questions you may have.)
(These are some of the questions you may have.)
Advance tip:
DO NOT allow any non-autistic social skills coach or psychologist or anything of the sort to join your friendship group or provide relationship guidance, or to come and 'observe'.
Don't even let an actual autistic psychologist be the group's psychologist.
DO NOT allow any non-autistic social skills coach or psychologist or anything of the sort to join your friendship group or provide relationship guidance, or to come and 'observe'.
Don't even let an actual autistic psychologist be the group's psychologist.
What if you're a non-autistic parent and you want to get something going that can include your autistic child?
(We've done this! Our joint events group has worked fine in spite of the occasional meltdown.)
(We've done this! Our joint events group has worked fine in spite of the occasional meltdown.)
I think I have to come back AND EMPHASISE IT AGAIN in the light of cringeworthy things I've seen at a distance in the entertainment media:
Autistic friendship groups are not group therapy! They don't exist for working through a social skills curriculum!
Autistic friendship groups are not group therapy! They don't exist for working through a social skills curriculum!
https://twitter.com/ekverstania/status/1500613272797696000?t=hAomwDjc47HVqOjmJl3VNg&s=19
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