It is important to prepare for and invest in the future. New or unexpected challenges can happen at any time. This can range from something as mundane as organising an outing with friends to something significant like asking someone we like to go on a date or an emergency such as assisting dealing with a small fire.
We work with like-minded parties to encourage autistics to venture beyond their homes to experience real-life situations that can address their preparedness gaps.
Rather than training autistics to follow rules like robots and pretend to be normal, we use unconventional strategies to support autistics to grasp the basic concepts needed to thrive in mainstream society when their caregivers have passed on.
1) Strategic Life Skills
- Improvisational Drama Training: To learn adaptability for handling sudden and unexpected changes
- Communications Coaching: To learn to speak and convey meaning clearly
- Performance Rehearsal: To learn and rehearse adulting life skills in real-world situations with a key motivation (e.g. to be able to date someone successfully)
2) Deep Human Insights
- Exploratory Art: To employ artwork to connect with the emotions and awareness of one’s inner state
- Exploratory Dance: To employ dance to connect with the body and to the flow of time
- Exploratory Drama: To employ drama to connect with intentions, free will and other human concepts
3) Research Partnerships
- Researchers and members of the media can gain access to the community to conduct autism research
- Social service providers can gain access to the community to prototype new groundbreaking solutions
- Community members who wish to do research can partner with other interested parties to work on the community