AANE's 1st Adult with AS Conference at Bentley College on 7/7/07

I've had a busy weekend.  Yesterday, I went to the first ever Adults with Asperger's Syndrome conference that AANE hosted at Bentley College: KNOW YOURSELF: THE KEY TO A BETTER LIFE.  Our speakers were Stephen Shore, President Emeritus of AANE and author of three books about autism spectrum disorders (Beyond the Wall, Ask and Tell, and Understanding Autism for Dummies), and Zosia Zaks, author of Life and Love: Positive Strategies for Autistic Adults.  Both are adults with autism spectrum disorders and give lectures to help adults with Asperger's Syndrome and their families with living on the spectrum.  Stephen did the morning presentation: Self Advocacy for Adults with AS, and Zosia did the afternoon presentation: Managing your Physical and Mental Health.

Steven Shore's website: http://www.autismasperger.net/

Zosia Zaks' website: http://www.zaksfamily.com/autism.html

The workshops were in the afternoon after the lectures were done.  The three workshops were "Know Your Brand of Asperger's" hosted by Jamie Freed, Director of Adult Services at AANE, and Gail M. Kastorf, Employment Specialist at AANE; "Managing The Multi: Multiple Tasks, Multiple Commitments, Multiple Papers, Multiple Technologies" hosted by Sarah Ward, Speech and Language Pathologist at the Center of Speech and Language Pathology; and "Dating and Relationships" hosted by Zosia Zaks.  All three workshops occurred at the same time, so I couldn't attend all three.  I went to the "Dating and Relationships" workshop.  It was good.  I only wish I went to a workshop like this when I was in college or, better yet, junior high.  It would have saved me a lot of grief.  I had to learn by experience what I shouldn't do or say on a date and how to avoid totally weird guys.  I like the fact that Zosia mentioned how important safety is when meeting a person for the first time.  I've had a few close calls with guys who were very eager to go home with me after I had met them for the very first time.

During the lunch break, I met a woman from Oklahoma City who I have known via e-mail for a few years.  A few years ago, her mother went to AANE's annual Fall conference and met me.  She told me about her daughter's struggles and gave me her e-mail address.  I wrote to her andtold her about my problems before I was diagnosed.

Throughout the conference, there were people selling books about Asperger's syndrome/Autism, especially Stephen's books and Zosia's book.  They also had handouts and business cards for services for people and families with Asperger's Syndrome (health, housing, etc.).

One highlight at the conference was when the question about who had difficulty while going to middle school was asked.  Everybody raised their hands.

At the ice cream social after the conference ended, we got to make our own sundaes.  We talked about what we enjoyed about the conference.  Some of my fellow attendees and talked about the term "middle school" being very inaccurate term because we all knew it as junior high school while we were growing up.  I gave people the address to this blog of mine.

Overall, I had a good day.  I was very tired when I got home.  Here's hoping for more adult conferences in the future.