2 Questions

darkcloak_dragon

Hello. 40-something female, diagnosed autism level 2. Computers, languages, animal welfare, and women's/girl's issues are my interests.


1. I have been looking for an autism forum, I believe it was created by a middle-aged woman, possibly from the Southern united states, and advertised on WrongPlanet at one point. Can anyone remember the name of it?


2. I have not created anything yet but would like to gauge interest in an email list or possibly a very simple, low-tech forum for autistic women to talk and find penpals/friends/dates with other women, something that would be open to all women but specifically made to be relevant to moderately affected autistic women.


Also I would like your input on what would be important to include if you are a female with moderate or more challenging autism, even if you aren't interested in joining something like this.


I hope it's not considered rude to join here and then immediately post about other online spaces. I've just had bad experiences with social media + this forum seems inactive, so I'm trying to create something myself and might not be active here.

verity

Not aware of it sorry. I'm aware of a something on the East Coast. @Mona_Pereth ; has a resorce on the East Coast, I'm not sure if that is what you are talking about.

Is it a facebook group? I have heard of small facebook groups like that but no specific recommendation.  I would maybe try to find a few folk in your community to try an hang with or chat. But don't underestimate how hard it is to keep community going.

The reality is this is already a saturated market and WP came at the right time. It is challenging to keep any online community going let alone for a specific ASD community even full time, which most don't have tine for. Bare in mind that the trad SEO route requires relevant content, but in reality after a while folk are don't wish to talk about ASD issues constantly, just hang out, it is a catch-22 but being from a community doesn't mean a person wishes to talk about it all the time.  On WP the majority of content isn't ASD related and quite a large section that is is about love and dating. The reason why it grinds on is simply volume. Without the scale you won't have that footfalll.

There may be interest in a an email list, but frankly folk are protective of their email, they might be willing to use their email but not share it with other members. They expect you to comply with privacy laws.

verity

Another thing to consider is when a group of people react against a community and wish to form their own the assumption is they are like-minded and united in goal, The reality is often they have very different idea of what they want out of it and this doesn't make easy to build a community. Somebody is going to take initiative and dedicate time, an likely money for small reward, and face ire when some don't get their own way.

When you are small one conflict between two people or one person bad mouthing someone can hamper you community and you are expected to fire fight.

darkcloak_dragon

verity said:

Not aware of it sorry. I'm aware of a something on the East Coast. @Mona_Pereth ; has a resorce on the East Coast, I'm not sure if that is what you are talking about.

Is it a facebook group? </blockquote>

No, it was a forum. 
<blockquote class="Quote"> 
I would maybe try to find a few folk in your community to try an hang with or chat. </blockquote>

I'm thinking about creating something online because I don't want a generic autism meetup; I want to serve the specific population of autistic women, and because I know lots of autistic people, especially the ones I'm targeting, don't have the energy or interest to meet a group in-person (I don't either). I would prefer to facilitate one-on-one connections so people can meet up/privately email/snail mail/whatevery they want, and have the online discussion available for people who want more than one-on-one interaction.  

<blockquote class="Quote">

Without the scale you won't have that footfalll. </blockquote>

That's a good thing. I don't want to moderate/facilitate/whatever a ton of people, and I wouldn't want the members to be inundated with emails/messages.

verity

As much as I don't like facebook you might try to see what is in your area. I woudl not spend a dime if you don't have to. I'm doing so, but that it my choice not a recommendation.

The reality is even to keep a small group going you are still going to have  keep a turn over becuase people come and go, which requires promotion. If those you know are consumed with family life and work, then woudl will need replenishing for the ones that will be absent or leaving.

Amity

Hi

I believe @Mona_Pereth has spoken before about small groups eventually becoming a network.

Either way the work she has done on her site and meet up group could give you inspiration. http://autisticnyc.org/

The person you are asking about is I believe OliveOilMom, and her site is called Right Planet.

Amity

verity said:

As much as I don't like facebook you might try to see what is in your area. I woudl not spend a dime if you don't have to. I'm doing so, but that it my choice not a recommendation.

The reality is even to keep a small group going you are still going to have  keep a turn over becuase people come and go, which requires promotion. If those you know are consumed with family life and work, then woudl will need replenishing for the ones that will be absent or leaving.

I can second this absolutely.

Although Neurovoice was not created to attract reactionary members, that is what happened.

People who were disgruntled with other sites for a wide variety of personal reasons became our member base. It isn't sustainable though as they aren't here anymore.

I can't emphasise enough the quantity of personal energy involved in the path you are outlining, not to discourage you, but to speak plainly.

My suggestion is to find an amenable existing site to collaborate with.

Better to alter something already established imo.

That is what I had hoped for through my membership on WrongPlanet, to create change, but the owner was not active or indeed interested in listening to the community.

This led to Verity building this site as somewhere free from the nastiness that I could no longer tolerate in the WP community at the time.

Statest16

There "IO groups" the evolution of Yahoo groups but any email is welcome.
You start your own mailing list there.Or start your own Sub-Reddit as well.

Have you ever looked up Olliebean or Amy Sequenzia here's a link https://ollibean.com/author/amy-sequenzia/

That is all I can think but I bet if you contacted Amy Sequenzia at above link she could answer better than we could.

Moonika

darkcloak_dragon said:

Hello. 40-something female, diagnosed autism level 2. Computers, languages, animal welfare, and women's/girl's issues are my interests.


1. I have been looking for an autism forum, I believe it was created by a middle-aged woman, possibly from the Southern united states, and advertised on WrongPlanet at one point. Can anyone remember the name of it?


2. I have not created anything yet but would like to gauge interest in an email list or possibly a very simple, low-tech forum for autistic women to talk and find penpals/friends/dates with other women, something that would be open to all women but specifically made to be relevant to moderately affected autistic women.


Also I would like your input on what would be important to include if you are a female with moderate or more challenging autism, even if you aren't interested in joining something like this.


I hope it's not considered rude to join here and then immediately post about other online spaces. I've just had bad experiences with social media + this forum seems inactive, so I'm trying to create something myself and might not be active here.

I find your thread very nice for conversation, I share some of your interests. 

I'm trying to understand if the emailing service could include groups, I never did such a thing, and how it would work out for people to view all the replies but I suppose it could actually work like a thread since you've proposed it. 

I think for struggling autistic women it could be good to actually have it through email because most people have already used it even if not for conversation to get by in life, I think. In terms of a group functioning I think people should be informed how it works before they join just so it's not confusing and frustrating because sometimes it's exhausting, hard work to figure out something new. I think most people didn't try group emailing before so it's important. 

In terms of topics women on the spectrum have a naturally more paranoid outlook on new things so the topics probably matter in terms of how personal they become, if there's intimate detail or personal detail requiring threads not every woman will feel comfortable and might distrust. As spectrum women we tend to be more vulnerable and exposed to abuse, so we have to be watchful. 

But female directed topics are also very important to talk about because it lets people feel less alone and understand how everything comes together with the neurodivergent quirks and specific female issues. I think most women on the spectrum feel great talking about their feminine related experiences and helps them feel empowered and confident, to love themselves.

Moonika

In terms if Facebook groups, a lot of people have work colleagues and real people and wouldn't like risking them connecting in any way or a reveal of their diagnosis. So that could be a downside. People might not like making 2 different accounts on Facebook because they have to keep one signed out, depending if they also use a mobile with it or not.