The Perception of Autism in Youtube Comments
Mentor 1
Celeste Campos-Castillo
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
5-4-2019 1:30 PM
End Date
5-4-2019 3:30 PM
Description
The controversy surrounding the legitimacy of autism has our society conditioning which symptoms are worthy of recognition. Autism is a spectrum, and the conditions created by society separate people with autism by their symptoms as a way to validate their disorder, disregarding their diagnosis. To study how people respond to the different levels of autism we collected Youtube comments under videos made my autistic Youtubers describing their day to day lives. After collecting the comments, we coded the comments according to what the commenter mentioned, both directly and indirectly. I’ve found that comment sections with little mention of symptoms were more scrutinized and ridiculed compared to the comment sections that were filled with consistent mention of different symptoms. These findings emphasized the worth associated with symptoms of social disorders. I also found that most commenters who were sympathetic in the comments were either autistic themselves or had loved ones and friends who were on the spectrum. The weight of worth attributed to symptoms can be applied to most disorders or disabilities, as you will find the more impacted a person seems by their disability, the less scrutiny they will face. The more visible a symptom from a disability is, the more validation that person will receive.
The Perception of Autism in Youtube Comments
Union Wisconsin Room
The controversy surrounding the legitimacy of autism has our society conditioning which symptoms are worthy of recognition. Autism is a spectrum, and the conditions created by society separate people with autism by their symptoms as a way to validate their disorder, disregarding their diagnosis. To study how people respond to the different levels of autism we collected Youtube comments under videos made my autistic Youtubers describing their day to day lives. After collecting the comments, we coded the comments according to what the commenter mentioned, both directly and indirectly. I’ve found that comment sections with little mention of symptoms were more scrutinized and ridiculed compared to the comment sections that were filled with consistent mention of different symptoms. These findings emphasized the worth associated with symptoms of social disorders. I also found that most commenters who were sympathetic in the comments were either autistic themselves or had loved ones and friends who were on the spectrum. The weight of worth attributed to symptoms can be applied to most disorders or disabilities, as you will find the more impacted a person seems by their disability, the less scrutiny they will face. The more visible a symptom from a disability is, the more validation that person will receive.
