Banal Autistic Social Media: A Found Footage Autoethnography

Abstract

In this position paper, we argue for designing autistic social media for thriving neurodiverse online communities. We discuss emerging work in the field of Human-Computer Interaction around autism and social media design, and explore how a Banal Autistic Design approach can lead to a less deficit-focused design paradigm by conducting a Found Footage Autoethnography, a method we introduce as an autoethnography variant suited to autistic embodied ways of knowing. Finally, we juxtapose our design insights with existing design guidelines for autistic social media, and argue for design for customisation, anti-normativity, non-prescripitiveness, granular publics, and interest-centricity.