Publication at Faculty of Humanities |
2022
Abstract
The paper focuses on the functioning of one specific online community - the creator and fans of the meme page Life in an Autism World. This meme page is administered by an autistic person and their goal is to create a safe space for both autistic people and people who want to learn more about the condition.
Autistic people are stereotypically regarded as either prodigies, or idiots, and they are usually represented as such in the media. Through discursive analysis of memes published on this page, I examine two ways, in which it disrupts the mainstream narrative surrounding autistic people: (i) self-mockery and (ii) othering non-autistic people.