About
Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. The absolute effects on the mentality of the person varies greatly for each individual.
On the internet, autism has gained usage as a label and insult used in generalisation, aimed at mocking people by claiming they suffer from a mental disease or social disorder. Common targets for these claims commonly involve specific online communities or fandoms. (See also: Cancer& The -fag Suffix)
Origin
[Researching]
Background
Not everything is known about autism, but the disorder has shown to contain a strong genetic basis, although it is unclear whether autism is explained more by rare mutations, or by rare combinations of common genetic variants. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize, although knowledge on this is incomplete. Autism is one of three recognized disorders in the autistic spectrum, alongside Asperger syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder.
Spread
[Researching]
Notable Events
50 Cent’s Autism Tweets
On July 3rd, 2012, Twitter user yung_raditz sent American rapper 50 Cent a tweet reading “@50cent Release the album or get shot again”. 50 Cent responded to this tweet by saying, “yeah just saw your picture fool you look autistic”, which was later followed by “I don’t want no special ed kids on my time line follow some body else”. These tweets caused a controversy for various people, resulting in numerous angry replies. Afterwards 50 Cent apologized for the tweets, noting that he himself was partly special needed.
Anon Vandalizing My Little Pony Mural
On October 20th, 2011, a user called ‘Gollum9993’ uploaded a video to YouTube titled “Painting Ponies” (shown below, left), showing a group of people creating a large mural based on the popular animated series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Late 2012, an picture showing the mural being vandalized by the text “Highest form of autism – Anon (shown below, right) started making its round on the web, resulting in mixed opinions on the act by various parties. One of the creators of the mural later stated in the comments of the video that they were capable of fixing it.
