Autscape Committee Online Meeting - 25 January 2009

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January's organisers' committee meeting will take place at 10am on
Sunday 25th January. (UK time).

As usual the meeting will be held online in IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
Location: Starlink-IRC network <http://www.starlink-irc.org/>, channel
#autscape.

The meeting is expected to last 1 1/2 to 2hours. During the meeting, the
channel will be moderated. In the interests of transparency, everyone
is invited to join the channel and observe, but only committee
members will be able to talk.

There will be a break midway through the meeting. Observers will be
able to talk then.

HOW TO JOIN:

If you have any IRC program installed, just use it to connect to the
irc.starlink-irc.org server and join channel #autscape.

If you don't have experience with IRC, you're probably best off using
the web gateway:

http://www.starlink-irc.org/index.webchat.html

Go to that webpage, click on "CGI:IRC Chat Portal". Then next to
"Nickname" replace what's there with your chosen nickname, enter
#autscape (including the # sign) as the channel, then click Login.

Firefox user? Then install the Chatzilla add-on from

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/16

and then simply go to this address to join us:

irc://irc.starlink-irc.org/autscape

You might want to try this out, experiment and make sure it works,
before the meeting. Outside meeting hours, everyone can talk in the
channel. Please feel free to ask any committee member if you have any
questions or problems.

This post was made to the Autscape chat and Autscape plan lists. If
you would like to reply and are not a member of either list you can
subscribe to the chat list via
http://lists.autscape.org/mailman/listi ... tscape.org

The minutes of January's meeting are here: http://www.autscape.org/organisation/20 ... ary09.html

Ken, urgently need you, or anyone else who has experience of Autscape, to let us know if, in the words of Kangoogle, on page 6 of this thread at:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt90404.html ...

"It would be totally unfair for a bunch of people from WP to turn up at Autscape, as bad as inviting a lot of NTs"?

And also really need to know if, again in the words of Kangoogle, "it really isn't a brilliant place for a load of high functioning people to descend on"? "It will be full of auties".

And, finally, whether the fact that some of us might "know" each other, from WP, would be like "hijacking" the event?

Is any of this true? I think such remarks stink of neurosnobbism, but perhaps they are correct/accurate depictions of the reality of Autscape.

It would be really great if someone on WP who has actually been to Autscape could say something about what it was like.

Thank you very much.

.

How many people from WP went to previous Autscapes?

If none/less than a couple, why do you think that is? If Autscape is really meant for the entire "landscape" of the autism spectrum what is it about the event, its organisation or its presentation, which has so effectively discouraged WP members from going?

Is it perhaps the astonishing attention given to respecting people's needs which is offputting, as if most Aspergers are so used to soldiering on against all odds that such attentions must necessarily be for far weaker mortals than us?

Is it because until AS actually seriously try to do something themselves they often don't realise, have difficulty imagining, just how much work it will be, and in the case of big AS gatherings when yet another thread proposing a meet-up disappears down the page just think it is lack of interest which is to blame?

So Autscape seems like it must be for "lower functioning people " because many here tend to think that if they wanted to have a gathering, enough, they could, just like that?

Is that why you have posted up the minutes from the committee meeting so that we can see how much work is involved in running such an event, begin to understand how much time and energy, etc, it would take to have a WP/AS gathering, and realise, ( with gratitude ), that don't need to do it ourselves, ( yet ), because Autscape already exists ?

.

I guess about 20 - 30.
I participated in several Autscapes. All of the other participants were high-functioning aspies. We would love it if "low-functioning" auties participate as well, but in practice, it seems only high-functioning aspies ever come to Autscape.

A lot of WP members attend Autscape each year.

Kangoogle never attended Autscape himself. Most people who attend Autscape each year are high-functioning aspies.

What is he talking about? Many people who attend Autscape know each other beforehand (in real life, not just online).

Kanoogle doesn't know what he is talking about. He never even attended Autscape himself.

For me, it has always been a pleasure to attend Autscape and to socialize with like minded aspies. I have made some great friends at past Autscapes and I look forward to making more friends at future Autscapes.

Has anyone written/posted anything anywhere/on WP about their experience so that could get an idea of what it would really be like?

Thank you very much for info.

So in fact it is, as I suspected, not at all the way that Kangoogle painted it, as if we/WP'ers would be out of place, or like an invasion.

I am going to go this year. Having thought about it last year this time it is really happening.

.

Last edited by ouinon on 08 Feb 2009, 10:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

I don't know, but you are invited to join Autscape's chat mailing list, in which you can correspond with people who attend Autscape every year and ask them whatever questions you feel like asking:
http://lists.autscape.org/mailman/listi ... tscape.org

Kangoogle never attended Autscape himself. He doesn't even participate in any of Autscape's mailing lists. I don't know why he expresses such strong opinions about an event he knows nothing about.

Thank you.

I joined the chat list this morning but haven't yet got round to posting any questions. I just looked, unsuccessfully, at a couple of month's threads, to see if there were any about people's experiences.

I was struck by Kangoogle's reaction too, and wondered if it might not be that uncommon. And, if so, why? As I said above, trying to work out what might be provoking such a response.

.