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

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Welch, C., Senman, L., Loftin, R., Picciolini, C., Robison, J. E., Westphal, A., Perry, B., Nguyen, J., Jachyra, P., Stevenson, S., Aggarwal, J., Wijekoon, S., Baron-Cohen, S., & Penner, M. (2022). Understanding the Use of the Term “Weaponized Autism” in An Alt-Right Social Media Platform. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 53(10), 4035-4046. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05701-0

Publication date: 10 Aug 2022 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
14
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 14 (7.1%)
  1. Christie Welch
  2. Lili Senman
  3. Rachel Loftin
  4. Christian Picciolini
  5. John Elder Robison *
  1. Alexander Westphal
  2. Barbara Perry
  3. Jenny Nguyen
  4. Patrick Jachyra
  5. Suzanne Stevenson
  1. Jai Aggarwal
  2. Sachindri Wijekoon
  3. Simon Baron-Cohen
  4. Melanie Penner

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.

Bibliography cited by this reference

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Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 07:51.

Cited references
64
With a DOI
53
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
11
5 / 64 (7.8%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
12 / 64 (18.8%)
References with detected author names
54 / 64 (84.4%)
Without detected author names
10
Without a structured title
12
Without a stable identifier
11
References with raw author names still to review
10
References with external metadata lookup issues
3
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
142
From DOI or external metadata
142
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
10
30 / 142 (21.1%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 112 / 142 (78.9%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
6 / 142 (4.2%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 6 / 30 (20.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 5 / 132 (3.8%).
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