I belong to a local Asperger's support group that meets in a Philadelphia suburb once a month. The administrator, Bob Hedin, sets a warm tone of support for anyone who shows up, be they on the spectrum or not. I hadn't yet been diagnosed when I contacted Bob and asked if I could attend. He assured me that a number of those attending didn't have a formal diagnosis, but they had their suspicions, as I did at the time. He encouraged me to join the group for support and information.
The group is a local chapter of GRASP, the Global and Regional Asperger's Syndrome Partnership, http://www.grasp.org/ The group offers support for parents, family and friends of Aspies as well as those of us on the autism spectrum, so non-Aspies are among our local chapter members. The group's goal is to offer support for those touched by autism or Asperger's, not just autistics and Aspies.
But the tenor can be different on some online Asperger's/autism forums. As with all online forums, participants can voice their pet peeves from behind a wall of anonymity. In autism/Asperger's forums, this offers a safety valve for Aspies struggling with social isolation, sensory issues, and job and relationship conflicts. They can seek advice or lash out in confidentiality and know that others are going through the same struggles.
Sometimes, though, an unhealthy group think sprouts in those forums. It's understandable in a group that goes through a lot of grief from the neuromajority, but we should try to steer Aspies away from it. Some comments in online forums go something like this: We Aspies are all sweetness and light, and those NTs are a blight.
It isn't so. We need to gently coax Aspies away from that mindset. I've got NTs in my life who value my different way of thinking and who want to show support. I've got NTs in my life I love. I cannot keep silent while I hear them slandered with bigotry, and it is bigotry. Replace "NTs" with an ethnic or racial group and utter a similar put-down, and you see the slur for what it is.
Focus on the content of a person's character. Please.
