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Hi all,

It has taken several months of hard work but the first autism only dating website www.autismdating.net is finally online! Although I am confident it was worth the hard work and I hope everyone might enjoy this new website.

After the official publication yesterday evening CET the first support mails are coming in (The Autism Society of Colorado, Autism Awareness (largest autism facebook group), Party for Charity, the Flemish Autism Organization, ...) All seem to love the concept and are giving their full support to get it distributed asap.

Little background history as why I have created this website:

After having seen a documentary on Belgian television about autism and the difficulty for autistic people to not only find soul mates but also a partner to spend the rest of their life with…I was a little bit astonished but at the same time wondering why it was impossible for them to find their perfect match. They deserve, just like you and me, an honest, open and fair relation. One of the persons in the documentary was a British boy who had subscribed himself to several ‘normal’ paying dating websites. In the past though this lead to a lot of frustrating discussions and fruitless dates he had had with ‘normal’ people who couldn’t understand his feelings and the way he behaved. Because that didn’t leave me cold I started surfing the Internet after the documentary and came to the conclusion not one autistic dating website existed at the moment. And this, to my opinion, asked for action, because I also have an autistic person among my acquaintances.

During the past weeks/months I have therefore not only spend many hours on creating an autism-friendly dating website, focussing on the aspects that are according to autistic people of vital importance when trying to come into contact with other people, but I have also asked the input of local autism organization to get a clear insight into what autism really is and what are the most important things I should pay attention too. The main item that always re-appeared was the possibility to have various and easy ways to communicate with each other, offering a clear structure and a user-friendly lay-out.
Taking this into account I have developed a website for these people, having them very much in my heart because of the contacts I have had the last weeks, including options like a chat, mail, video posting feature,… Besides these features I have also incorporated a forum where autistic people can express their feelings and ask for advice if needed. There is also a possibility to start a blog… and many other features. All are easy and logic to use. The name of the site is www.autismdating.net

In all fairness I have to admit that my autism dating site is a pay site. Maybe in the future it will become free. After having checked other dating websites I came to a monthly price of $30/20 euros/32 AUD/40 NZD or 18 British Pounds that has to be paid to enter my website. No hidden traps or additional payments though as all the features will be available after becoming a member. The reasons for making this a pay site are the following:

- I would like to keep the site advert-free and to focus only on the dating aspect. As autistic people like structure and logic steps I therefore choose for a paid site which allows me to ignore all offered adverts and/or banners.
- The site will on a monthly basis, besides my current profession, also cost me several hours/days to maintain it, host it and answer to possible question/remarks. Depending on the success it will maybe become a fulltime job. Besides the future costs I have already spent a lot of time, money and effort on this site.
- Making a pay site of this dating website will also make sure that only autistic people become a member. It’s an extra security measure which often forms an issue for free dating websites. (Fake profiles, unpleasant people, people not belonging to the target group, …)
- As I would like, over time, to implement “a make a wish contest”, to fulfil every 2-3 months a wish or let’s call it a wannado of one autistic member of autismdating.net.
- The money earned will also be invested in the creation of other autistic dating websites supporting other languages like Dutch, French, English, Spanish, …

Having this told to you I hope you will all enjoy the site!
All comments/feedback/concerns are more than welcome and I will try to answer them as soon as possible. (for certain persons I can also provide a temporary trial profile to fully discover its features and functionalities)

Thanks for your interest and I wish you all a nice day!

Wim Styleman