We got here (Blackburn) on Tuesday, but we are only here temporarily while I look for work. Right now, she is talking to her U.S. friends online until after midnight, which means she will not get used to the time change at all and isn’t really finding a way to learn about cultural norms, so I want her to find people here to talk to in order to make those less of a problem. Since we’re only here temporarily, her making local friends might not be the best plan, so I’m hoping people here might have kids that would be interested in getting in touch online.
My daughter is gay and autistic (but very high-functioning). Both of those issues complicate things a little in terms of adjusting to UK culture in various ways and having other teens help her adjust would also be great. We are going to check the local youth centre, but as I said, she is also a bit shy, so I don’t know really how to get her to talk to kids there. That’s why I’m trying to take the initiative here on her behalf.
She is way into Japanese stuff, but the Japanese stuff she’s into is a less popular stuff than, say, Fullmetal Alchemist anime. She does like anime, but she says she only likes “obscure” anime for the most part. Other Japanese things: she is addicted to Japanese electronic music from the 70s and 80s, especially Yellow Magic Orchestra, and loves Sanrio. She’s trying to learn the language as well.
She also is kind of a punk rocker, but not in a get in the mosh pit way, just in an enjoy the music and dress punky way.
Other big interests: lost media, classic animation (we’re talking 1930s here), abandoned buildings and urban exploration, cult movies, and really anything odd or obscure she learns about that she can do a deep dive into. Oddly, despite not playing video games anymore, she is still very interested in learning and talking about them, especially ones from the early days.
What can I say? She’s an eccentric kid and she will talk your ear off about any of those things if you let her. Anyone got a kid that might be into talking with her over Discord or some other way of getting in touch?
Oof. Yeah. No I would never go for something like this. Im a youth worker in uk, go with the youth centre instead, way less risky.
As a parent and a youth worker who gets training in things like safeguarding children online, my main concerns would be that you could be imitating a 14 year old using software or just by looking or sounding young, or by not revealing your face or voice. Or you may have a 14 year old in a relationship whereby you can force them to do things for you. If you came into my youth centre and asked this same question, I would probably get fired if I didnt write a report about this and pass it on to child services.
If you type your post code and the word ‘youth’ into the keyword field, you should be able to find any local targetted services where they are used to working with kids on spectrum: https://www.autism.org.uk/autism-services-directory