Weird Work Situation

[RemyZee]

I work at a disability rights center and for a year now they have been trying to start up a teen autism support group and there was alot of effort that went into making it safe and comfortablefor neurodiverse
folk. So, the directors found two facilitators, advertised it, talked it up and put it in a folder and got the board to approve it. But here is the rub: ........no one attends! Literally week after week there is an empty "neurodiversity room" and week after week it is empty. Week after week the group is advertised and no one comes. Now mind you it is a very nice room, and tranquil, but empty, or maybe 1 or 2....

I kept wondering why only 1 or 2 kids was attending when I first started that once when the nt group leader was having an activity, she, literally, passed out copies of brains printed from a coloring book, and gave the teens crayons to color the brains. Then she hung them all over the walls and they have been there for a year.--these colored brains. Even worse she seems to be practicing some morphed form of aba. And, lo and behold the room is empty. Or nearly empty. I dont know what the purpose is and I don't know why it bothers me so--it almost seems like telling a support group of deaf people to hang colorings of ears in their meeting room. I don't know if I'm over reacting but it bugs me to no end that we are sponsoring an autism group, run by a nt who has group members do children's drawings of brains--then ask curiously why the neurodiversity group hasn't got anyone in it besides the aba woman! But I'm considering bringing it up to management, it seems useless for that room to be empty

 

[tree]

Yes, it sounds like the program is due for a review.

Has anybody tried talking to the few that have attended
what they'd like to have happen in the group?

 

[RemyZee]

Yes, it sounds like the program is due for a review.

Has anybody tried talking to the few that have attended
what they'd like to have happen in the group?

I don't know if anyone has tried talking to the youth--more just like telling them what to do. Kind of weird because it's like a room off to itself and they aren't a part of the other programs. I think the people at the center don't really know how to relate to us. It's like over here you have blind deaf mobility and over there autistic and add and never the two shall meet.

 

[tree]

Almost like the individuals are regarded as just 'categories' but not people.

 

[FayetheAspie]

Programming, electronic engineering projects, and other such like would most likely get better attendance instead of doing child level color pages. I find it soo annoying when my Dad expects me to get excited about some first grade level coloring page or buys me a 6-8 year old level craft kit for Christmas. I remember when I wanted to get a horse and he would get me horse themed gifts that were for small children. I remember him telling me that I had "got him" when I went behind his back to get myself a riding lesson at the local stables. I was in my early twenties at the time.

 

[Tom]

Teens may be a difficult age group to attract. Anxiety, Avoidence, Transportation, Parent/Guardian involvement, competing with the Internet,

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

I worked more than 20 years in the developmental disability and disability rights field. There is no question that the abled people running the programs classify people into groups and some of the private names of groups are quite insulting.

It was extremely rare to find an abled person who did not see disabled people as other.

It was common to see adults treated as children.

 

[TBRS1]

I don't know if anyone has tried talking to the youth--more just like telling them what to do. Kind of weird because it's like a room off to itself and they aren't a part of the other programs. I think the people at the center don't really know how to relate to us. It's like over here you have blind deaf mobility and over there autistic and add and never the two shall meet.

A person who:

1. had an understanding of autism from the inside (i.e.: is autistic)

2. who made these observations about a place where they were employed (a place with the stated purpose of "helping")

3. could construct an outline of a better program, or create a set of general suggestions for the improvement of the program (and articulate reasons for them)

...could help themselves, their employers, and the people they are tasked with serving by doing #3 and presenting it to their employer.

 

[Outdated]

I joined a meetup group for autistic adults but only attended a few times because I felt uncomfortable there.

1st issue was that meetings were held in a building owned by a church and they were very strict on no drugs or alcohol. For me that makes it an antisocial event right from the start. For most Aussies to tell the truth, even if you ban other alcohol you have to allow beer, beer is cultural, its an officially sanctioned social lubricant.

(one of our Prime Ministers, Bob Hawke, still holds the world record for sculling a Yard Glass)

The other problem I had was cultural differences. I'm a child of the 60s and 70s and I was always a very blokey bloke. I'm not at all homophobic and I've had many gay friends over the years of both genders but when you get amongst a large group of them you soon discover a lot of them are heterophobes. It gets uncomfortable.

The people attending these meetups were almost exclusively under 25, either gay or asexual, and all of them had severe social anxiety and hardly spoke. We played card games and they tried to create a social environment but it just wasn't working. People not speaking and constantly glancing at each other sideways, if you saw a bunch of people behaving like that where I grew up it meant they were just waiting for the cop car to disappear around the corner before the knives came out.

I spent the whole time there really wishing I'd gone to the pub instead. When they announced a "Wear Your Favourite Leather" event was when I decided it really isn't for me.

I did talk about this with the event organiser, he's an incredibly nice bloke and he works really hard at keeping the group going. He told me that a group of them do go to the pub afterwards and that honestly sounded a lot more inviting to me but I'm an old man, if I got to the pub at 10:00 at night I'm likely to fall asleep at the table.

[Edit] just a thought for getting teenagers more interested, perhaps organising something like this might be appropriate for them:
Free coding clubs for kids | Code Club