Understanding the Use of the Term “Weaponized Autism” in An Alt-Right Social Media Platform

Abstract

Background The term “weaponized autism” is frequently used on extremist platforms. To better understand this, we conducted a discourse analysis of posts on Gab, an alt-right social media platform. Methods We analyzed 711 posts spanning 2018–2019 and filtered for variations on the term “weaponized autism”. Results This term is used mainly by non-autistic Gab users. It refers to exploitation of perceived talents and vulnerabilities of “Weaponized autists”, described as all-powerful masters-of-technology who are devoid of social skills. Conclusions The term “weaponized autism” is simultaneously glorified and derogatory. For some autistic people, the partial acceptance offered within this community may be preferable to lack of acceptance offered in society, which speaks to improving societal acceptance as a prevention effort.

Qualitative and Artificial Intelligence-Based Sentiment Analysis of Turkish Twitter Messages Related to Autism Spectrum Disorders

“…It is particularly noteworthy that the word autism has recently been used on social media platforms to refer to people who practice marginalized practices for the public's benefit and justice and who are technologically skilled but have weak social skills. Online hate speech is on the rise, reaching an alarming level [ 28 ].…”