“F#@% Autism Speaks”: an ambient affiliation and legitimation analysis of the bonds that unite #ActuallyAutistics on Twitter

A growing body of research has investigated how autistics communicate and build community online, highlighting the neurodivergent affordances of social media and the convoking properties of hashtags. Building on these investigations, this study explores how autistics have formed community around the #ActuallyAutistic hashtag, reclaiming the autism narrative as they advocate against ableism and the organisation, Autism Speaks. Situated at the intersection of discourse-analytic work on online community formation and social semiotic approaches to evaluation, the study analyses a corpus of 100 tweets combining the #ActuallyAutistic hashtag with references to Autism Speaks. Drawing upon the linguistic frameworks of Affiliation and Legitimation, it examines how social bonds are negotiated within their social contexts and how these bonds are made credible via semiotic resources. Findings reveal how members of the #ActuallyAutistic community distinguish themselves as the authority on autism and actively advocate against Autism Speaks, its supporters, practices and ableist values.