Your opinion? Website aimed at having a database of inform

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Hey there!
I'd like your opinions on something if this is ok . I've spoken to quite a few others with ASD and they've felt it a good idea but i'd like a wider berth of opinions, advice, ideas and feedback .

Firstly a bit of information on me:

Basically I want to create a website aimed at ASD and other such things like ADHD. I have all the skills to do such and have run other websites before so that's no problem.

The main core of the website is to be aimed at those specifically with ASD. It will include things such as:
- coping mechanisms - such as dealing with eye contact etc.
- Difficult scenarios and how other people with ASD dealt with them(also neurotypical behaviors explained in the scenario etc)
- social strategies for dealing with things like alcohol, university/college, bullying etc.
- advice to parents raising those with ASD.
- Metaphore databases so people can quickly look up words and phrases that have confused them.
- Getting diagnosed and dealing with doctors etc.
- Local services and support information.

I want to create a massive knowledge base with as much information as possible, easily accessed and not to appear too daunting. I want the information to be as truthful as possible and to amplify the fact all people with ASD are extremely different.

My aim is to have it quite open - so those with ASD can easily contribute their own experiences, advice etc.

There's probably a lot more i have missed out here, but i hope i've given the general gist of what i want to create. It was exceptionally hard for my Mum for example scourging the internet for help and really struggling to find it, especially when it came to finding information to do with my younger brother and helping him.

My question is what do you think? Any advice or suggestions or ideas?

Last edited by AshleyT on 11 Jul 2011, 1:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

That sounds like a lot of work however, it sounds like a great idea. I would contact http://www.familiestogether.org because they work on a state level and if they don't have a families together in one state, they generally have a counterpart to one and can give you the information on how to reach them. The thing that is great about families together is that they are mainly a giant brain for local resources. Although they focus on children and children transitioning to adulthood, it would be a good start in finding those local resources.

Great! Thank-you very much for the reply and information.

That would be pretty cool to have.

A wikisperger would be good.

Because of controversy and disagreement regarding AS science, different points of view rather than the stock one answer would need to be listed

That's exactly what i'm aiming for!

I have a section on controversy of diagnostics to show not everything is black and white and included a few things in there like examples of Aspie's having a very good imagination (although by this i mean creativity rather than imagining they are a mouse or something).

And i've done it as a wiki .

I'm not confident enough to post the link yet(because a lot of the information is draft and i definitely need to re-word some things), but i'll post a few quotes:





I'm trying to compile different sides of things but without being confusing. It's quite hard but I hope with feedback and other's input it will be easily read and understood .

Thank-you for the feedback!

Yes encourage feedback especially in these early days.

Even ask for rewrites with/without permission, and you could get a flurry of informative articles coming your way. Plagiarism is your friend

My first critique from your above example would be a more formal and semi-authoritarian tone to truths. It seems you do plan to be an authority of sorts?

My preference for matter of fact tone, is purely one of simplicity and economy of written words without favour

I always run to wikipedia first thing. However, nearly everyone I know is cynical about wiki accuracy.

Essentially you will be an editor. A good edit is important to your popularity and opinion in Aspieville

The SammichEater supports this idea.

gosh that would have been cool when i was figuring out when i first got diagnosed. yeah i support this.

Thankyou again for your reply .



Yes even in later days i shall be! Feedback is very important to me both negative and positive because I want the information to be as clear as possible.

I want to get something rough going at first and then when i'm confident enough, share the link with people, get feedback, allow them to edit and add things too =).


I have quite a bit of information to be writing at the moment already . Plagerism isn't too much of a problem at the moment in that there isn't really much to Plagerise in terms of coping mechanisms and strategies, that i've been able to find anyway. My job mostly at the moment is finding out what people are most struggling with and then speaking to mostly adults with ASD and finding out how they learned to deal with them.

My Mother for example has written for me around three pages purely on how she deals with eye contact! So i need to write those up.


Sorry, can i just verify you are specifying the need for a more formal tone? (just to make sure i have understood correctly )

Thank-you very much for feedback . The tone is something i do need to re-write and revise especially because at the moment it switches a bit, i'm just trying to get the information down for now which is why i'm not confident enough yet to share . Hopefully in a month or so though .

Do you have a pre fab website, or are you building from scratch? Just wondering.
I would defiantly concentrate on not only making an online encyclopedia, but also have a video library as well. I think having a visual reference is extremely important. It's the same principle as with my National Audubon Society book. You can try as you might, but you just cant describe the sound a bird makes, you have to hear it.
An interview section would be a nice addition as well. If you felt up to the task, you could find and interview local people who are on the Autistic Spectrum. I think that would be a nice way to get some diverse opinions on the matter.

I'm starting with a Wiki and then will be expanding =). I tried doing it all at once but it didn't work, content is the most important to be honest, everything else can be shaped around it.

Computer Science is my degree at the moment =).



Thankyou . I was thinking for example of having two pictures of for example, cows in a field.
One picture will be what a Neurotypical see's - Cows in a field.

The other will highlight what someone with ASD see's - 4 Cows, each with 3 spots, one's eating, etc. Aka, the detail.

I was thinking of having a video on explaining some of the methods of 'fake eye contact' - aka it looks like you're giving eye contact but you're not.

What other things do you think would be good for visual stuff? Perhaps video role plays with scenarios?



My Mum's involved a lot with local people with Aspergers and she runs a group and attends some also so it wouldn't be a problem. Could you possible give me more examples of what type of things you'd like to see in an interview?

Thank-you for the feedback.

Yeah a more formal tone to your written material

I like wiki things factual and bare of emotion or humour. Essentially facts should stand on their own. Unproven ideas need to be shown as such eg mercury

I'll make it more formal but i've had my Mum with AS write some material that's formal with a slight sense of humor in a few things and it seems written very well. It's more a bit light hearted when she's explaining some of the scenario's she's got herself into hehe.

Things based more on facts - like social strategies and rules i'll keep very formal . I'm going to re-write some of it today.

Hopefully in a week i'll be able to share the link to get some more specific feedback. The metaphor database is already doing very well . It was suggested the formal idioms are highlighted in a different color and eventually i have an idea to do tests and things like that on them for people, My Mum was really excited by this idea since idioms/metaphors is something she REALLY struggles with.

We've also come up with loadsa video ideas in explaining how AS can be like. So hopefully once the wiki is done to an acceptable level we can start creating those .

Thank-you so much for your feedback . It's really much appreciated .
Would you mind having a read through the wiki when the core is done to offer any feedback at all?