#ActuallyAutistic Sense-Making on Twitter

Abstract

Autistic individuals engage in sense-making as they seek to better understand themselves and relate to others within a society formed by neuro-typical social norms. Our research examines the ways in which autistic individuals engage in sense-making activities about autism on Twitter. We collected autism-oriented Twitter conversations and Twitter user profiles data of people participating in those conversation. Our research contributes empirical evidence demonstrating that that autistic sense-making on Twitter is constituted by (1) engaging in dynamic discussions of life experiences, (2) countering stigma with actions of advocacy, and (3) enacting neuro-atypical social norms.