July Community Newsletter

It has been a great month for our community:

• We have gained over 2,000 new members on our Facebook page! Thank you to everybody who shares our community with others. On our page alone, we now have almost 42,000 members!

• Also, this month, our Facebook group passed 1,000 members. Our group is constantly active and our members offer a great deal of support. When our original group was archived, it was the members who helped re-build the small corner of our community. Now, more active than ever, it is great to see the group where our community began flourish again in such a small space of time.

• We had some great topics suggested on our Facebook page and amazing input as ever. You can find a list of July discussion topics here. Thank you to everybody who contributes to our nightly discussions. We meet nightly at 9:30pm. Fridays are open discussion nights for general chat. Everybody is welcome!

• Our Google+ account is back up and running. Unfortunately, Google will not allow the name ‘Aspergers Awareness Community’, so I have had to use my name, ‘Gemmaleanne Goode.’ The account is purely for community news. It is a pity that the community name is not allowed, but it is great that we can still keep up to date on Google+ and I look forward to what G+ can offer our community.

FUTURE NEWS

• Between Friday 5th - Saturday 13th August, our Facebook group will be closed. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. The Facebook page will still be open as usual. I appreciate your patience during this time.

• Google+ offers some great features for our community. Stay tuned for some exciting additions to Aspergers Awareness Community in the next couple of weeks!

Thank you to all members across the internet, on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Blogger and G+. Your support is outstanding and much appreciated!

July Discussion Topics

Hello. Here is the list of topics that we covered in July on our Facebook page. We meet at nightly at 9:30pm GMT for member suggested discussion topics and each Friday, we have an open discussion where members meet up for general chat.

• Relationship Questions
• Tics and Repetitive Behaviour
• Agoraphobia
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Phobia
• ADD ME
• Wandering Off
• Stereotyping
• Hygiene and Personal Care
• Indecisiveness
• When and How To Tell Friends You Have Aspergers
• Confrontation
• What Else Defines You?
• Do You Do That Too?
• Employment
• Disbelief of Aspergers
• Where Are You From?
• Sensory Issues
• Depression Resources
• Stimming
• Pain Tolerance
• Online Privacy
• Speech Delay
• Social Isolation
• How Do You Calm Down?
• Aspergers Traits in On-Screen Characters
• Do You Believe In The Supernatural?
• Lies

Thank you to everybody who contributes to our nightly discussions. Everybody is welcome!

Aspergers Awareness Community On Facebook

Weekly Community News

We have had a very eventful week and thank you all who has interacted and shared over the past seven days.

On Sunday, members were asked to join the Facebook Group Help Bring little Autistic girl back to her daddy to show support for Derek in his fight to get his daughter back with her family. You can show your support and learn more by clicking the link. Many thanks to all members who have read Derek's story, shared with friends and signed the petition. Good luck to Derek and family on behalf of our community.

Our main Facebook Page, which is the heart of our community, has had a little revamp. Our Info section is now much clearer to read. Please get in touch if you notice any errors or have any suggestions on what could be added.

Sadly, our original Facebook group has now been archived. Thanks again to all who worked hard to help build a new group.

This week's discussion topics were:

• ADD ME Night
• Wandering
• Stereotyping
• Hygiene and Personal Care
• Indecisiveness
• When/How to Tell Friends You Have Aspergers
• Confrontation

You can join us for nightly discussions on our Facebook Page at 9:30pm GMT. Fridays are friendship-orientated open discussion nights.

You can now follow the community on Google+. Please click link.

Once again, thank you all for your input and support right across our community. Have a great week!

Gem.

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. :)

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. :)

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.

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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