Identity and Discourse Among #ActuallyAutistic Twitter Users With Motor Differences.

Area of Science:

• Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Social Sciences

Background:

• Motor differences are increasingly recognized within the autistic community.
• The functional impact and lived experiences of these motor differences remain under-explored.
• Social media provides a valuable, less-constrained environment for observing autistic discourse.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the proportion of autistic individuals on Twitter who also identify with dyspraxia or developmental coordination disorder.
• To identify prevalent themes related to motor skills discussed in online autistic communities.
• To explore the integration of motor differences into autistic identity through social media analysis.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Twitter's API to collect public profile data and tweets mentioning autism and developmental coordination disorder.
• Analyzed data from a 1-month period, including two moderated #AutChat threads focused on motor skills.
• Quantified common themes related to motor function, coordination, and associated experiences.

Main Results:

• Identified themes including manual dexterity, lower extremity function, oral motor skills, gross motor abilities, posture, balance, stimming, movement-related pain, and coordination.
• Observed that while motor differences are frequently discussed, they are not always explicitly integrated into self-identity.
• 151 tweets from 31 unique autistic users were analyzed, with 44 directly addressing motor differences.

Conclusions:

• Motor differences are a significant and frequently discussed aspect of the autistic experience online.
• Social media analysis offers insights into the nuanced ways autistic individuals perceive and articulate their motor challenges.
• Further research is needed to understand the integration of motor differences into autistic identity formation.