Other autistic peer-led support groups and social activities

Below are peer support groups and social groups that are led/facilitated by and for people on the autism spectrum, but which are not affiliated with this website, and whose leaders/facilitators are not core members of the Autistic Peer Leadership Group. (Groups led or facilitated by members of the Autistic Peer Leadership Group are listed on a separate page here.)

The groups listed below are not led/facilitated by psychotherapists. (Groups led/facilitated by psychotherapists and other professionals are listed on a separate page here)

Within each category below, groups are listed in the order in which they were founded, oldest first.

• Groups for all verbal autistic adults

  • Aspies for Social Success
  • Autistic Adults NYC
  • The Neurodivergent Network

• Groups for specific demographics (e.g. women, young adults

  • Artemis
  • North Jersey Young Adults Making Friends

• Demographically limited subgroups of the more general groups

Groups for all verbal autistic adults

• Aspies for Social Success

  Main site | Calendar | Meetup | Email

  Founded in approximately 2012 (see history here), AFSS now holds the following regular meetings:

  1. Weekly support group, Wednesdays at 6:30 PM, via Zoom
  2. Monthly weekend support group, third Saturday of the month, at 2:00 PM, via Zoom

  As of February 2023, AFSS plans soon to begin holding in-person social events again, starting with informal weekend social gatherings at a diner or restaurant in Manhattan.

• Autistic Adults NYC

  Main site | Meetup | Discord | Email

  Founded in July 2022, Autistic Adults NYC holds a variety of social activites, both in-person and virtual (via Discord), including game nights, movie nights, museum visits, picnics, and restaurant meals. They also hold monthly workshops. As of February 2023, their typical schedule will be (according to a personal communication from their organizer):

  1. Week 1:
     First Wed (Bi-monthly): Group meeting
     First Sat: Virtual Meetup
  2. Week 2:
     Second Sat or Third Sun: In-Person Meetup
  3. Week 3:
     Third Wed: Virtual Meetup
     Third Sat or Fourth Sun: Workshop
  4. Week 4:
     Fourth Fri: In-person Meetup

• The Neurodivergent Network

  Meetup

  Founded December 2022. Welcomes people with a variety of developmental differences/disabilities, not just autism. As of February 2023, it has held one in-person event in Brooklyn and several virtual (via Zoom?) events, including a poetry night, a philosophy night, and a discussion on advocacy.

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Groups for specific demographics (e.g. women, young adults

• Artemis

  Meetup

  Founded in 2015, their Meetup site says:

  ARTEMIS is a social/activity group for adult women and femmes, including diverse gender expression, of adult age* living in the New York City metro area who have either been formally or self-diagnosed with some form of autism -- whether aspergers, autism or related diagnoses. The group is organized by a woman with self-diagnosed aspergers in her 30s (not a mental health professional) and is loosely affiliated with GRASP, who's [sic] role is helping to pay the meetup fees and providing some spaces to meet only.

  Currently their only event listed on Meetup is the "ARTEMIS monthly skype group hang!" on the third Sunday of each month.

• North Jersey Young Adults Making Friends

  Meetup

  Founded in 2016, their Meetup site says:

  This group is about making friends. Our focus is on neurodiverse younger adults 21 and older. Some of our members have difficulty making friends for a variety of reasons; shyness, anxiety, etc. Some have challenges like High Functioning Autism, OCD, ADD, ADHD etc., which may make finding friends and forming friendships more difficult. Some simply don't have the environment or opportunity to make friends they are comfortable with. This group is to help them meet and bond with peers and hopefully form some great friendships in an accepting environment.

  Currently their only event listed on Meetup is their monthly "Food, Fun & Friends" on the first Sunday of each month.

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Demographically limited subgroups of the more general groups

• "Older Aspies" group within Aspies for Social Success. Meets via Zoom on the fourth Wednesday of each month.

As other similar groups form, they will be listed here.

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