Minutes of the Twenty Second
Post-Diagnostic Support Group
5th July 2017
Today’s group was attended by 37 people.
Items discussed were:
The meeting started with Calvin apologising for the absence of Linda from the group and also why Carly and Gail had not attended today. He then went on to introduce himself and other members who were in attendance which were Calvin Atkinson, Elspeth Bromiley, David Reiser, Ren, Dream & Scott.
Calvin then introduced David who then started his presentation which was named:
When/Where/ how Autistic people want/ not want their inflexibility challenged/ supported.
During David’s presentation there was a lot of interaction with a wide range of members from the group giving their opinions and own personal experiences on how routines in everyday life are a good thing when working right and on time etc. Also discussed was the sort of issues that can arise when these routines are affected by time delays and changes or differences in a set routine. Participants offered possible solutions to challenging situations that they had found helpful.
What was also highlighted within the discussion was that the Autism events that have been organised throughout the community are more family or child orientated as opposed to being aimed at single or the older generation of people diagnosed with Autism or Asperger Syndrome. The lack of events for older single people was particularly noted.
The topic of discussion moved briefly onto PIP and DLA and the lack of help available while applying for help from the government and Els mentioned that this is something that we needed to discuss in more detail and at a later date.
There was then a 20 minute break for cakes and refreshments and a chance for anybody wanting to borrow any books and DVDs they were interested in from the collection available.
After the break the first topic of agenda was the Autism Pride walk that had taken place on 18 June 2017. Calvin thanked everyone who had attended then asked if everyone thought it was a success and what we needed to do to improve for next year. Again a few suggestions were made which involved making it a different day other than Sunday In particular due to problems with transport getting to and from Chester. Some people had to get 2 buses which did not run on a Sunday. Concerns about rush hour traffic was also raised. It was also mentioned that a bit of uniformity in terms of having either the same colour clothes or badges as an identifier would have been beneficial and maybe more people involved with the organisation of it next time. A planning group was suggested for next year.
Calvin & Ren introduced their idea of having a role playing group which people could get involved in and it was made clear that details needed to be finalised then advertised and made available to everyone on our website.
Dream went through the new developments within Axia and informed everyone of the ideas we were having about T shirts, Hats etc, and also promoted his book.
Finally the time and date of the next group were announced which is Wednesday 16th August between 12:00pm and 2:00pm with guest speaker Sarah Hendrickx
Everyone thanked Calvin for his excellent job.
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