Is Vancouver really AS-friendly?

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I am seriously considering an opportunity that presented itself to study abroad next fall in Vancouver. I am just curious how many people are familier with Vancouver and if it's really as AS/introvert-friendly as some people here say it is (goldfish21 ).

This thread makes me want to put the 16GB microSD card in my Blackberry and go take a video tour of a bunch of different parts of town so I can show you the diversity of the city & it's people, but also that an Aspie can go around filming everyone & everything w/o so much as a single person being weirded out about it. Double proof!

Hey, I know you're enthusiastic. I'd just like as many opinions as possible. I also found out I could study abroad in Sweden, too. So I'm trying to choose between two places that are supposedly AS-friendly.

Stockholm vs. Vancouver

I did look at Meetup.com, and there are not very many aspies in the aspie meetup groups in Vancouver. We actually have one with 700 members here in Austin, but it includes family members too.

The small numbers in Vancouver COULD be both a good thing and a bad thing.

I do speak Chinese and English but not Swedish. So...not sure how you can go to Sweden without Swedish.

I've never used Meetup.com for anything and only vaguely remember hearing of it before. It may just be that that particular website just isn't popular here among any circles.

I know I sound like a broken record about this stuff, but I truly believe there are simply so many of us here and so many people from such a broad variety of backgrounds that our quirks are so much more easily tolerated that we're just all over the place vs. meeting up as special groups that have to form special groups because society at large makes us want or need to do that.

And yeah, I'd want as many opinions about it as I could get, too - so I hope you get some.

I've thought about moving to Vancouver, primarily because of the high Asian population and there is a nice origami group there. Most of my interests involve Japan and I enjoy their snacks/knick-knacks, anime, etc. It isn't likely to happen, but it sounds like a beautiful and interesting place vs backwoods KY.

I donno I'm checking out toronto this week.

I'd love to goto Vancouver, but the weather is awful(to much rain and clouds), and it's really a city where only the rich feel welcomed.

Vancouver is a big place, there's bound to be some niches.
But there are also a lot of Asians there, and they tend to be quite introverted.

I want to end up in Vancouver. in large part because of the climate (I can't tolerate being hot) and the immigrant community (I'm a Buddhist so lots of East Asians is a good thing, and I identify with immigrants of all stripes just because volunteering with them is a chance to try to explain what's going on in my native culture...which I feel like an immigrant in myself.) plus it's the gayest per capita city in Canada and I'm stuck in the bible belt wishing I lived somewhere holding hands in public wasn't dangerous.

honestly I don't know how a place with mountains, the ocean, gay people, and more immigrants than white people could go wrong. it HAS to be a culture of acceptance and diversity.

worth noting is that it's also the beating heart of New Urbanism, which is awesome.

I didn't realize we had the highest per capita number of homos here, that's actually kinda cool, too. Since I've never lived anywhere else, while I know they exist, it seems strange to live in a place where gays holding hands is dangerous. It would almost certainly get you some looks in the suburbs, but IN Vancouver/downtown - especially in the gay district - nope, probably not even so much as a second look for the most part. It's a pretty safe city for pretty well anyone.

What can I say? When you live here, there's no place like home.

haha, at least for Canada. Seattle has the highest number of cohabitating same-sex couples as per the 2000 US census. (and the lowest reported religiousity and highest average educational achievement). I'm all for Cascadia becoming its own country and taking me in as a refugee. temperate rainforests? like seriously you guys have the best of everything.

Aaaaaah, sweet sweet climate zone 7.. th heaven.

Yes, yes we do. We really do. Every other major city I've ever been to has 1 or 2 pretty cool things about it, whereas we have like 10.

The ONLY real downside to this place is how expensive it is - and that's a pretty major downside & deterrent for a lot of people.. which is why a lot of young people have been moving East to Alberta for work & more money and lower costs of housing/living. But like I've said many times, I'd rather be poor here than move somewhere else & not be here.

I'm not sure I understand. I lived in Seattle for a long time and went to Vancouver fairly often. But I don't recall feeling like people were friendlier to me because of my autism. But then again I wasn't really putting that to the test. I loved living there and visiting Vancouver and I'm all stoked about moving back there (Everett) in a couple of months. But I keep to myself too much I think to be able to gauge what you're talking about. But who knows? Added perk?

Can an entire metropolis really be reduced to simple dichotomies like: Aspie Friendly or Aspie Unfriendly?
I think it really all depends on the network or circle that you are able to hook up with in any city you live.
It is the people who directly affect you in daily interactions that influence your love or hate for a city.
A city becomes Aspie friendly because you are in daily relationships with a group that is friendly.

That said, I have sometimes thought about living in Vancouver, but not for Aspie reasons.
I have visited there a couple of times, but have never lived there; I am curious about it.
Could it be considered as the #1 best city to live in North America (Canada and US)?
I read a few articles considering Vancouver the "Most Livable City" in the World.
Is this just over-exaggerated media hype, and a big real estate campaign?

Yeah its very aspie friendly I have been to Vancouver B.C. 4 times its like San Francisco only a bit cleaner same liberal level of people and more Asian. The science center there is also nice as well as stanler park and chinatown and japan town Its the San Francisco of Canada! The people are very friendly as well and welvome aspies with open arms just like san francisco!

I agree, in part, with all of this. Of course one's own paradigms about a city are going to be formed based on the people they interact with, however, if the people of a city are, in general, much more diverse, tolerant of others, accepting of differences, and overall just more friendly.. then the probability of having a good experience with the people and the place is much higher than if you were to visit a homogenous race/religion/ethnicity city full of bigoted racists & homophobes.

And yes, in part that's a global real estate campaign to attract big $ from China and elsewhere to prop up Vancouver's ridiculous real estate market and feed the Greed of banksters, most definitely. It's still an incredible city, very clean, very green, every amenity & environmental feature one could really ask for, great food, variety of entertainment & a subculture to suit just about everyone. The only part that makes it very unliveable for many are the financial numbers. Vancouver has the second least affordable real estate vs. local incomes on the face of the Earth at more than 10x average gross earnings for the average home price - only Hong Kong has it slightly worse off at 11x. There are still jobs, and some good paying ones if you're in the right field, but in terms of joe average and daily life - if it's important to have a lot of disposable income then this place might not be for you. It's still manageable if you're able to work yourself into a relatively high paying job for the region and live below your means in the suburbs. It's certainly not easy, but it's going to take a real estate crash (which is possible) to put things back into a better balance.

First off the Vancouver real estate market is hyped beyond belief, it's not even a question. It's a very narrow strip of land, in a part of the country that happens to have very cold winters. This inflates the value of the property, but as far its nice perception, it's more of a byproduct of the wealth that's in the region.

However on your first point I disagree, there are clearly some places that are far better for certain subtypes of aspies than others. If your well off, and an aspie without a doubt vancouver is a great place to be. However if your in the lower income bracket it's pretty much a nightmare.