Autism Network Scotland's national forum

2 ELAS folks attended the first meeting of ANS's revived forum - Iast week. From ANS -

ANS was delighted to facilitate a new meeting of its formerly long-running Asperger’s Forum on Mar 16, last week. Members held the autistic-led forum online via Skype.

If you identify as autistic, we would like you to join our next discussion (diagnosis not required). You can listen, text or speak – choose what’s comfortable for you.
Join us to share experiences.
Join us to be heard.
Join us to influence change.
Name the group! Please bring your ideas for the group name to the next meeting - date and time to be announced here soon.

The forum is open to any autistic people (diagnosed or self-identifying) who live in Scotland. If you would be interested in hearing more, or joining the forum, you can email lynsey.stewart@strath.ac.uk

guilt by quack theory

SOMEONE POSTING ON THE STURGEON/SALMOND SCANDAL HEARINGS - I have a background in understanding and teaching non-verbal communication having studied it at length, and delivered workshops and training to a multitude of groups including trainee psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, police officers and social workers.

ME - As a civil liberty concern towards this idea of "teaching non-verbal communication" from involuntary mannerisms not intended to be communication at all. - Post-traumatic stress and autism are both things that can make innocent folks show the same nerves or blanked emotion, as hasty or high-handed police/psychiatrists/teachers like to interpret as showing guilt.
Does what you are teaching incorporate that fact and avoidance of that danger? It can only be moral if it does.

spectrumites out of Carstairs hospital !

On the scandal, that was a Sunday Post headline www.sundaypost.com/fp/one-little-step-followed-another-and-no-one-would-listen-to-us-and-no-one-would-speak-to-us-and-all-the-little-steps-took-us-into-hellrestriction-on-an-individual-should-be-the-minimum-restriction-ne/, of putting autistic young adults who had got into vaguely defined behavioural situations ,but no crime, into Carstairs. Then of their families' distress at not enough access to hold to account how they are getting treated in there, which is too hard.

Call for it stopped: http://chng.it/2KKy6dKDFk