Sunday 8 May 2011

Member List Of Co~Morbidities

After covering co~morbidities in last night’s discussion, I have added the list of raised issues to our ‘Notes section of our page. I think that this information is valuable for awareness of Aspergers and will benefit readers.

You can find the list HERE. I hope that you find it useful. :)

Saturday 7 May 2011

Future Topics

After asking members to suggest future discussion topics, I look forward to covering the following:

Prosopagnosia
Late diagnosis
Support for parents
Music
Female diagnosis
School
Mothers ‘developing’ Aspergers
Imitating NT behaviour
Feeling like a bad parent
Anxiety
Worry
Self help
Obsessive interests
Creativity
Grief
Discipline
Co morbidities
Echolalia

Friday 6 May 2011

A Dead-End For Awareness ~ But A Thank You, To You.

On behalf of our community, I can proudly say that the majority of members who find our Facebook page are relieved, satisfied and content to have discovered a ‘safe’ and friendly place to vent, share experience, find friendship and educate themselves. Since our community began, I have been inspired by this and have dedicated much of my spare time inviting others into our kinship, with my own initial quest for answers in mind. However, without help from the members also inviting, reaching 36,000 members would never have been possible.
Unfortunately, due to recent Facebook updates, it is now harder to ‘spread the word’ as only page administrators are able to send invites to their friends. It seems that Facebook is more determined than ever to make page owners pay to advertise.
Sharing the page has always been a personal choice made by the individual. Only once have I asked members to invite friends, as part of Awareness month in 2010. I find nothing more annoying than ‘nagging’. (lol)
So, this week, I have been conjuring methods to get around this ‘dead-end‘ in awareness.
Our support on Twitter has always been greatly appreciated. Every discussion gets Re-Tweeted and each week we get dozens of ‘Follow Friday’ mentions. Many members have found us through Twitter and I would like to send my sincere thanks for the support of all followers.
Creating this blog has also been beneficial, as readers get an insight as to what the community is about. I have thoroughly enjoyed reflecting on the past three years and our journey of learning together. Again, I would like to thank those on Twitter who have been forwarding our posts.
Overall, I am pleased to say that modern methods of awareness has opened up many paths of delivering a world of resources to those still searching.
Thank you to everyone who spares their time in helping others to find friendship by sharing our page, all across the world.

Forever Grateful.


Gem. :)

Thursday 5 May 2011

Ask Someone With Aspergers

For tonight’s discussion, our members with Aspergers have been answering questions with advice and experience. Personally, this is my favourite topic and the response is outstanding. This is a link to the discussion.




Members' Poetry

Last week, I asked the members to submit their poetry to brighten up the page and show a positive to our community. The response was fantastic and we received far more poems than expected. The poetry covered many topics with a beautiful array of views. You can read the poems here.

Poetry will be posted once a fortnight in our notes section. If you have a poem that you would like to add to our page, then please email me at gemageee@googlemail.com

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Member Submitted Film Recommendations

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Mozart And The Whale
.
Adam
.
The Black Balloon
.
Snow Cake
.
Amelie
.
Temple Grandin
.
Mary and Max
.
Where The Wild Things Are
.
Billy The Kid
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Malcolm
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Lars and the Real Girl
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The Boy Inside
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Magnificent 7 (BBC)
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Ben X
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Running Boy
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Make Me Normal (CH4)
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The Autistic Me (BBC)
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My Name is Khan
.
A Child Is Waiting
.
Horse Boy
.
Parenthood (TV)
.
Elling
.
Criminal Minds (TV)

Member Submitted Book Recommendations

I Want To Be Like You
by Travis Breeding
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The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time
by Mark Haddon
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Asperger Syndrome:
by Lorna Wing
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Can my Baby Learn to Dance
by Steven Gutstein
.
The Way I See It
by Temple Grandin
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All Cats Have Aspergers
by Kathy Hoopmann
.
The Incredible 5 point scale
by Michelle Garcia Winner
.
Complete Guide To Aspergers
by Dr Atwood
.
A Friend like Henry
by Nuala Garner
.
The London Eye Mystery
by Siobhan Dowd
.
The Blue Bottle Mystery
by Kathy Hoopman
.
Elijah's Cup
by Valerie Paradiz
.
Nobody Nowhere
by Donna Williams
.
Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome
by Luke Jackson
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Look Me in the Eye
by John Elder Robison
.
An Asperger Dictionary of Everyday Expressions
by Ian Stuart-Hamilton
.
Smiling at Shadows
by Junee Waites
.
Eating an Artichoke
by Echo Fling
.
Life Behins Glass
by Wendy Lawson
.
House Rules
by Jodi Piccoult
.
Dear John
by Nicholas Sparks
.
Pretending To Be Normal
by Lianne Holliday
.
Communication Issues In Autism And Aspergers Syndrome
by Olga Bogdashina
.
Finding Kansas
by Aaron Likens
.
Martian In The Playground
by Claire Sainsbury
.
Wicked Good
by Joanne Lewis
.
A Catch Me Tickle Me Gene
by Scott Hough
.
Atypical : Life with Asperger's in 20 1/3 chapters
by Jesse A. Saperstein
.
Born on a Blue Day
by Daniel Tammet
.
Be Different
by John Elder Robison
.
A Painful Gift - The Journey of a Soul with Autism
by Chris Goodchild
.
The London Eye Mystery
by Siobhan Dowd
.
Congratulations, It's Asperger Syndrome
by Jen Birch
.
Life and Love: Positive Strategies for Autistic Adults
by Zosia Zaks
.
Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew
by Ellen Notboh
.
The Chrysalids
by John Wyndham
.
Bye Bye Balloon - Introductory Guide To Asperger's
by Carlene Inge
.
Asperger's Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals
by Tony Attwood
.
Lost in School
by Dr Ross Greene
.
One Small Starfish
by Anne Addison
.
Born on a Blue Day
by Daniel Tammet
.
All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome
by Kathy Hoopmann
.
Thinking in Pictures
by Temple Grandin
.
What to Do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid's Guide
by Dawn Huebner
.
The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun
by Carol Stock Kranowitz
.
What to Do When Your Brain Gets Stuck
by Dawn Huebner
.
Asperger's Answer Book
by Susan Ashley PhD
.
Can I Tell You About Asperger Syndrome?
by Jude Welton
.
The Other Country
by Michael Whelan

Last month's discussion topics.

The following is a list of last month’s discussion topics;

  • If you could be cured, would you want to be?
  • What makes you laugh out loud?
  • General school issues.
  • General relationship and dating issues.
  • Disbelief of Aspergers.
  • ‘Do you do that too?’
  • Money management.
  • People obsessions.
  • Speaking the truth.
  • Musical taste and ability.
  • Temper and control.
  • Emotional outlet.
  • Gaming.
  • Your diagnosis story.
  • Differences.
  • Advocates.
  • O.C.D.
  • Impulsive behaviour.
  • Religion.
  • Complicated birth theory.
  • Sleep issues.
  • Food and diet.
  • Defiance or Aspergers?
  • Drug and alcohol use.
  • Depression and anxiety.
  • Creativity.
  • Main difficulties.
  • School understanding of meltdowns.
  • Understanding gestures.
  • Memory
  • Suggested references.
  • Naivety.
  • Optimist or pessimist?
  • Routine.
  • Phobias.
  • Empathy.
  • Asperger parents.

Thank you to everybody who gives their input in our discussions. If you would like to join in, please join us nightly at 9:30pm GMT. Our topics are chosen by our members and everybody is welcome to join in.

Tuesday 3 May 2011

A Sad Fair well To Our Facebook Group

Three years ago, this month, I created a Facebook group named Aspergers Awareness Group on Facebook. Pages were not yet an available feature on the social networking site and the number of members soared. The group inspired the page and offered much more in terms of contact between members.

Unfortunately, due to Facebook updates, the group, which has now more than 10,000 members, is soon to be archived, meaning that it will be upgraded and all members will have to be re-invited. As the new group format requires administrators to be friend with invitees, this is not possible; therefore, we will eventually lose the group and discussions.

The policy of Facebook does not allow administrators of large groups to message all members, which means that I have no way to contact members to inform them of the loss of our group.

Sentimentally, this is a sad loss to our community. We are lucky to have discovered Facebook pages at the right time and the changes will have no affect on our page, but losing many of the members responsible for the success of our community is such a pity. We can only hope that they discover our page.

Monday 2 May 2011

Page Updates

This June, our community will be three years old. With many new members joining daily and with constant activity, the community has flourished beyond all expectations and has more resources than ever.

I have spent the weekend updating the Facebook page. The sections I have updated are:

Info Section
Extended Info
Page Tour
Member’s Poetry

Over the past couple of weeks, members have been suggesting books and films to add to our resources listed on our Extended Info section. Our list has now doubled! Many members request suggested books and films for an insight into the world of Aspergers and I am sure that this list is beneficial for all.

After requesting members to email me their poetry, I received a flood of wonderful poems, which I have posted to our Notes section. Due to such a well-deserved appreciation for the poetry, I shall be posting every two weeks.

I have also been busy elsewhere online promoting awareness. We now have a Myspace profile and a Blog, as well as a Twitter profile, so please follow us if can.






Finally, thank you all so much for your continued support and input. Here’s to the next three years!

What is Aspergers Awareness On Facebook?

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♥ WHAT DOES THE PAGE OFFER? ♥
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The main purpose of the page is for those who live with Aspergers to share their experiences and offer answers, advice and support to those who need it. Although, I have posted some helpful information that I have found online, the main source of information comes from our wonderful members. However, it is very important to remember that every single person is different. Individuality is greatly respected here.


♥....Nightly discussions....♥

Each night, I send out a nightly discussion via our status, where members are encouraged to leave their views, advice and personal experiences. These discussions are the heart of our page, and have helped build strong bonds between our members. Anybody is welcome to join in. If you have Aspergers, care about someone who has Aspergers or anybody else who feels that they can contribute, then please do. The wider the opinion, the better the discussion! The discussion is sent out at 10pm GMT (uk).
If you have a suggestion for future topics, then please leave a comment on our wall, or get in touch with myself The topics are intended to help YOU the member, so your suggestions are essential!


♥....The Wall....♥

Our wall is open to you to share your news, suggest discussion topics, ask a question or share pictures, videos, or something you have found which others may find interesting. Members are asked not to share Facebook groups here as there are so many that our important posts get lost. Our wall is for you to keep in touch, which is very important in our community. Group posts and other spam will be deleted.


♥....Discussion Tab....♥

Our discussion tab is very active. From little questions to big chats, these discussions are here for you 24 hours a day.


♥....Talent....♥

We welcome all forms of A.S inspired self-expression which can be posted on our wall at any time.

Poetry
Pictures
Artwork
Videos

Please see our notes for our submitted poetry and feel free to send your own.


♥....Extended Info Tab....♥

I have crammed this section full of your suggestions on books, films and resources for future reference. (Updated regularly)


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