The neurotypical listening subject in autistic young people’s accounts of participation in online affinity spaces

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Koteyko, N., Aiston, J., Van Driel, M., & Bremner, F. (2026). The neurotypical listening subject in autistic young people’s accounts of participation in online affinity spaces. Language in Society, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0047404526102619

Publication date: 30 Sep 2026 Added to AutiHub: 2 Oct 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
4
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 4 (25.0%)
  1. Nelya Koteyko
  2. Jessica Aiston
  3. Martine Van Driel *
  4. Flo Bremner

Abstract

Abstract Autistic communicative practices are frequently judged as disengaged or inappropriate. Focusing on how such evaluations are described and contested by autistic users of online interest-based groups, this article theorises a neurotypical listening subject—an ideological listener that recognises communicative engagement primarily through the signs of orientation to the interlocutor. We develop the notion of ‘attentional asymmetry’ to describe the unequal judgments that arise when autistic modes of attending, often oriented primarily toward objects or topics, are evaluated against this normative expectation. Based on survey data from 144 UK residents, we show how young people navigate this asymmetry by avoiding particular semiotic practices and platforms, and repurposing digital affordances to resist anticipated judgments. Extending work on crip linguistics into digital interaction, our findings demonstrate how digital architectures reconfigure criteria for recognising engagement and motivate research on how digital platforms may institutionalise evaluative frameworks that marginalise autistic participation. (Language ideologies, autism, metapragmatic awareness, affinity spaces, masking, social media)

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 14:10.

Cited references
72
With a DOI
60
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
12
19 / 72 (26.4%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
3 / 72 (4.2%)
References with detected author names
69 / 72 (95.8%)
Without detected author names
3
Without a structured title
2
Without a stable identifier
12
References with raw author names still to review
2
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
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
171
From DOI or external metadata
171
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
3
87 / 171 (50.9%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 84 / 171 (49.1%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
24 / 171 (14.0%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 24 / 87 (27.6%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 20 / 154 (13.0%).
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