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Autism On The Net: An Autoethnographic Appraisal Of Literature On Online Socialization, Empowerment, And Kinship Of Autistic People In Digital Spaces, Lennox Le Vine-Miller

Honors Theses

In a world that is increasingly becoming more and more active online, social groups formed on the basis of interests and passions have the propensity to intersect with communities of those who experience marginalization, in this case, autistic people. As such, this work seeks to examine what the basis of an autistic cultural identity is, and how the social factors that it is built on, those being belongingness, social connectedness, and political connectedness, and how they manifest among various online communities, whether it be cosplay fandom, fanfiction communities, or virtual worlds within Minecraft and Second Life. These online communities illustrate …