User:Meganvanderwiele/Neurodiversity
Small edits to improve source quality:
"Neurodiversity advocates... living support" [1]
Neurodiversity in the Media
The increase of representation of the neurodiverse community in the media came about with changes in the technology of the media platforms themselves.[1] The recent addition of text-based options on various social media sites allow differently-abled users to communicate, enjoy, and share at a more accessible rate. [1] Social media has a 2-fold benefit to the neurodiverse community. It can help spread awareness and pioneer the neurodiversity movement, and it can also allow members of the communities themselves to connect. [2][3]
Social Media as Connecting Platform
Media platforms allow the connection of individuals of similar backgrounds to find a community of support with one another. [3] Online networking and connections allows for the user to decide their level of comfort with interactions, and allow them to retain control of a relationship with another user. For the neurodiverse community, the use of social media to create relationships has proven a useful tool for those with difficulty in social situations. [4] By connecting neurodiverse users, media platforms are are to provide 'safe spaces' that is helpful in the making of relationships.[4] Some media developers, such as Divyanka Kapoor, have taken a step further and created platforms such as “Blossom” which are designed specifically to connect neurodiverse users and families.[5] Platforms such a Blossom remove the external pressure for neurotypical users and allow the neurodiverse community to seek security and familiarity within a platform built specially for them.[5]
Social Media As a Driving Force
Another way in which media has the potential to benefit the neurodiverse community is by allowing users (especially popular influencers) to spread awareness about the neurodiversity movement.[6] Increasing awareness about disorders, especially those often debated by non-experts such as neurodiversity, has shown to increase the amount of factual information spread [6] The spread of information through social media exposure can assist the neurodiversity movement in educating the public about understanding disabilities such as autism and sifting out misinformation. [2] By sharing neurotypical experiences from a first hand perspective, media influencers have power to educate the public as well as destigmatize certain disorders.[6] As negative portrayals of neurodiversity have an obstructive impact on members the community, changing the narrative through social media exposure is a tool the ND community is employing.[7]
Challenges Within Media
Although representation of the neurodiverse community has grown with the help of social media platforms, those users are often criticized and misunderstood.[8][2] Social media has not gotten rid of the social barriers that restrict inclusion of neurodiverse peoples. The persisting barrier in social media is deeper than the issue of accessibility. Neurodiverse users are reported to be limited to their platform to conform to the mainstream view of their disability to be seem as an “authentic” user.[8] The push for "authentic" users on the internet has grown with the use of social media itself. While the premise of sifting through ingenuine users was not a broach to the ND community, it has indirectly made it more difficult for neurodiverse users to grow platforms.[9][8] This issue of able-bodied users evaluating the authenticity of a neurodiverse user based on stereotypes shows the battle that the neurodiversity movement has not reached its goal of inclusion. [8]
Sources and explanations
References
- ^ a b c Leadbitter, Kathy; Buckle, Karen Leneh; Ellis, Ceri; Dekker, Martijn (2021). "Autistic Self-Advocacy and the Neurodiversity Movement: Implications for Autism Early Intervention Research and Practice". Frontiers in Psychology. 12. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.635690/full. ISSN 1664-1078.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ a b c Gabarron, Elia; Dechsling, Anders; Skafle, Ingjerd; Nordahl-Hansen, Anders (2022-03-07). "Discussions of Asperger Syndrome on Social Media: Content and Sentiment Analysis on Twitter". JMIR Formative Research. 6 (3): e32752. doi:10.2196/32752. ISSN 2561-326X. PMC 8938830. PMID 35254265.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ a b Zhao, Yeuhua (November 29, 2019). "Finding Users' Voice on Social Media: An Investigation of Online Support Groups for Autism-Affected Users on Facebook". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health – via PubMed.
- ^ a b Brownlow, Charlotte; Rosqvist, Hanna Bertilsdotter; O’Dell, Lindsay (2015-11-02). "Exploring the potential for social networking among people with autism: challenging dominant ideas of 'friendship'". Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research. 17 (2): 188–193. doi:10.1080/15017419.2013.859174. ISSN 1745-3011.
- ^ a b "Blossom: An App for the Neurodiverse Community • The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute". The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute. 2022-01-26. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
- ^ a b c Calhoun, Amanda J.; Gold, Jessica A. (2020-04-01). ""I Feel Like I Know Them": the Positive Effect of Celebrity Self-disclosure of Mental Illness". Academic Psychiatry. 44 (2): 237–241. doi:10.1007/s40596-020-01200-5. ISSN 1545-7230.
- ^ Stuart, Heather (2006-02-01). "Media Portrayal of Mental Illness and its Treatments". CNS Drugs. 20 (2): 99–106. doi:10.2165/00023210-200620020-00002. ISSN 1179-1934.
- ^ a b c d Bitman, Nomy (February 11, 2022). ""Authentic" digital inclusion? Dis/ability performances on social media by users with concealable communicative disabilities". New Media and Society. 24 (2): 401–419. doi:10.1177/14614448211063183. ISSN 1461-4448 – via Sage Journals.
- ^ Pooley, Jefferson (January 2017). "The #nofilter Self: The Contest for Authenticity among Social Networking Sites, 2002–2016". ResearchGate. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
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