Reluctance to follow Autism/AS accounts on social media

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NYAspie
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11 Jul 2015, 12:12 pm

It's no secret that everything that's anything is on social media -- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the like -- these days. This includes accounts and pages dealing with autism and Asperger's syndrome, obviously. I'm quite reluctant to follow these accounts, as I feel I would be alienated by my NT friends/followers.

So with that in mind, do you follow these types of accounts? If so, what kind of reaction, if any, have you experienced (i.e. has anyone unfriended/unfollowed you)?


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The_Walrus
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11 Jul 2015, 2:37 pm

I don't think your friends would be any the wiser :) If you're "out" to them, I don't think most of them would mind at all.

I did follow some on Facebook for a while, until I realised that all my friends could see my replies. There are some things I only want to share with people who share that background.

I have a special Tumblr account I use to post venty things about autism, and on that I follow a bunch of autism accounts - but to no effect.

So, my advice is to follow them - but keep the commenting to a minimum.



ToughDiamond
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11 Jul 2015, 4:39 pm

I haven't really looked at autistic stuff on Facebook, I usually confine myself to WrongPlanet for that. I haven't opened a Twitter or Instagram account, and even on Facebook my presence is pretty low-profile. Didn't realise anybody else would see if I "followed" anything there, though it doesn't surprise me. Facebook seems to like revealing everybody's behaviour to everybody else, so I try to fly under the radar where possible, and I have the strictest privacy settings they allow. Generally speaking, if I want to follow a story that's on the Web, I just bookmark it and take an occasional look. I'm not too concerned about my friends knowing I've got AS, I just stay as private as possible because I don't want to be targeted for advertising, and because I'm a very private person. Once a fact about me is out there, it could well be impossible to turn back the clock.



JitakuKeibiinB
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12 Jul 2015, 3:51 am

I don't use social media, so I haven't been "unfriended" by anyone. :)



RoadRatt
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12 Jul 2015, 5:14 pm

I've never had any interest in the social media sites. I have no one besides my family to contact so there is no reason for me to use them.


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Aspiewordsmith
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24 Jan 2018, 1:16 pm

I have gone onto a few Asperger syndrome sights during the early few months of my relationship with a fellow Aspergian woman, who in my opinion is the most beautiful woman in all of Aspergia. We did share a lot about autism/Asperger syndrome and the social model of disability as applied to Asperger syndrome and I have only been unfriended by my mum, and she is not exactly the sharpest pencil in the case, not educated but not willing to better herself just hinder her offspring (likely a personality disorder but that is off topic) She doesn't want anything to do with autism now she can't tell everyone I had 'brain damage' which I never had. I don't really talk to friends on Facebook just my girlfriend who also is a member of Wrongplanet as well I do talk to others as well at our Asperger syndrome support/social group.:idea:



harry12345
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24 Jan 2018, 1:26 pm

NYAspie wrote:
It's no secret that everything that's anything is on social media -- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the like -- these days. This includes accounts and pages dealing with autism and Asperger's syndrome, obviously. I'm quite reluctant to follow these accounts, as I feel I would be alienated by my NT friends/followers.

So with that in mind, do you follow these types of accounts? If so, what kind of reaction, if any, have you experienced (i.e. has anyone unfriended/unfollowed you)?


It is not an ideal solution, but there is no reason why you couldn't have a second Facebook account. I doubt it would work on your phone app as you'd have to keep logging in and out, which would be annoying.

If you've got a PC then it would be very easy to set up a second account and just use that for the Autism stuff. All you would need is an alternative email address (Yahoo, Gmail etc) and a different "name".



Nira
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24 Jan 2018, 1:30 pm

I think better is create second secret profile for this. Better than inform about Autism/AS someone who you do not want.


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