Autistic-After-Hours.co.uk - Testimonials from AAH Members

I’ve recently started attending Autistic After Hours sessions, and they’ve had such a positive impact on me. As a newly diagnosed autistic adult at 51, I’ve often felt overwhelmed and really wanted to find support and community with people like me. Social situations can be challenging for me, so I was quite nervous at first, but the groups are incredibly welcoming. I really appreciate how they cater to different age ranges and offer a variety of meetings and activities. It’s a safe space where I can truly be myself, take my time, and slowly find my feet — and, hopefully, make some new friends along the way.

"I am a late diagnosed Autistic woman, in my 60s, and I had no idea where to turn after I got my diagnosis. Finding AAH has been life saving for me, it's such a relief to be able to spend time with my neurotribe and to know I am not on my own. Although I am one of the oldest in the group, everyone has made me feel welcome and included.

Liz and Helen keep things interesting and organise so many trips for the group, things I could never have done on my own. I'm very grateful for all the support I get from being in the group, it really makes a difference and it matters"

Words cannot even begin to express how grateful and thankful I am for all the support and welcome I receive from the AAH [Autistic After Hours Social Group].

I am overwhelmed with appreciation for the dedication and support provided by Liz, Helen and the co-ordinators for the group.

The last few years have been the most distressing in my life, where I have found myself at rock bottom, struggling with isolation and social anxiety, amongst other mental health issues.

And it's been during these times of intense vulnerability that, via my Doctor, I was told about the AAH group, and it's given me a renewed sense of better times.

The AAH offer guidance, empathy and understanding as well as playing a crucial role in helping people with the Autism Assessment process, for which I couldn't possibly manage alone.

Furthermore, what is equally valuable and necessary are the occasional trips out to various places in the country, forest and the workshops they offer, as well as games evenings, that they believe may contribute to a better health outcome.

I do hope that, in the future, they can continue to offer these services, with possible funding, as its vital for people like me and others, who find it a struggle to live with feeling marginalised and alone.

I really would feel lost without their support.

Before becoming a member of Autistic After Hours, I was in a significantly worse place. I always felt like my autism was something I needed to compensate for, and that I would never be enough as I was. My self-esteem and confidence were incredibly low, I was socially isolated outside of my job, which I felt was the only thing that gave me tangible value, and when I was unable to continue working, it felt like my life was over, and knowing the place I was in, it truly may have been if not for being told about AAH.

At my first meeting I remember my anxiety was through the roof, I barely spoke, I avoided eye contact, I kept the exit in my peripheral vision, all things I’d been taught how to mask when I’d interacted with people before, and all things I simply didn’t have the energy to hide anymore. But, to my deep surprise, it wasn’t a problem like it’d been made out to be in my past, in fact many people were feeling just as anxious, and those who weren’t feeling as anxious right then had absolutely felt like that previously. Everyone understood, and, even more importantly, I was accepted as I was.

Since that first meeting, the impact AAH has had on my life has been immeasurable. Having the space to be my authentic self, even having the space to discover who that authentic self is after decades of having to hide it in the interest of being accepted, has done wonders. My confidence and self-esteem got higher with each month, and being accepted and even welcomed by AAH meant beginning to accept myself, and in doing so, the foundations were laid for me to make the most meaningful friendships I’ve ever had.

The best part about the impact AAH has had on my life, as paradoxical as it will sound, is that I still have days where my anxiety is high, where I struggle to say anything, where things still feel harder than the many challenges the confidence and self-worth that my time with AAH has instilled me with have allowed me to overcome. But I know now that that’s okay. Even when I’m not in a good place, Autistic After Hours is a group where I will feel just as accepted and just as welcomed on my worst day as on my best day.