Autism and Social Media

Iris Gray

Back in November many people were asked to refrain from using social media for a day to show sympathy and raise awareness for the social isolation of autistic people. What these people may not have understood is that many autistic people are no longer isolated thanks in large part to social media.

Thanks to sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LiveJournal and other blogging sites, autistic people can meet others on the autism spectrum, share ideas, learn about autism and how it affects them, and even arrange to meet face to face. Some people have met and married others on the spectrum after meeting on social media sites.

In this speech I will talk about how I, an autistic person, and other people on the autism spectrum benefit from the use of social media.