Email or username:

Password:

Forgot your password?
Top-level
Newtsoda

The research was fundamentally flawed and should not be used as evidence that one group is better than the other. It does, however, highlight the problem of biased research that stigmatises everything about us.

The autistic girl faces the reader, looking perplexed. She says, “Basically, they decided that autistics care too much and should be more willing to sacrifice their principles for money.” She inhales slowly, massaging her temples. The camera zooms out as she raises her hands in frustration and shouts, “WHAT!”
After calming down, she continues, “I know, I'm shocked too! But let's remember this is only one study. Not all autistics are selfless, and not all allistics are selfish. Yet it does shine a spotlight on how researchers talk about us.”
The page opens on a large spread, showing the autistic girl in various different poses and activities: displayed on a stop sign and crossed out, holding one of the kittens from the first page, playing music on the harp, and daydreaming of a beautiful castle in a field of flowers. The text flows alongside these images. She says, “It often feels like everything about us autistics is twisted into negative traits. Even the good stuff! Our strong sense of justice, our passion for our special interests, and our rich inner lives are all viewed with scepticism.”
The bottom of the spread shows several allistic people frowning and judging the girl. The final panel reads: We can see it all across autism research carried out by neurotypicals. There is an inherent bias.
A girl is staring unnervingly at the reader as she says, “I am staring into your soul!”
The panel text reads:  Imagine if we talked about neurotypicals the same way researchers talk about autistics:
“Aggressive obsession with eye contact”,
“Inflexible adherence to unwritten social rules”,
“Inexplicable compulsion to project negative subtext into simple conversations”. The next panel shows the autistic girl standing in front of a blackboard which has “Bad Researcher Detention” written on it. She looks strict as she says, “Silly, right?” Two researchers are in detention, teary-eyed and apologetic. “Sorry,” one of them sobs.
The next panel shows a diverse group of autistic people and the three kittens from the first page, an infinity symbol above their heads. The text reads: We need to have a serious conversation about how we research and talk about autism. And above all, autistic voices need to be the ones leading the charge. Let us head the research! Let us share our experiences!
50 comments
It's A Me, Bori'O

@newtsoda Do you have an URL for the research itself?

I'm interested in the results even if the conclusion seems as flawed as you mention.

nellie-m

@newtsoda @Lrrr

thank you for the source. it’s even more disgusting than I thought. It’s so glaring that as researchers, they should have become AT LEAST as interested in the poor moral decisions of one group, instead of pathologising the other for their „inflexible“ consistency in Not! Taking! BRIBES!

#actuallyautistic

still can't work out who i am

@nellie_m @newtsoda @Lrrr remember much of the research is about gaining money from the very lucrative autism industry, so no way they'll say anything positive, that'd be like expecting the mega corps to stop steeling our data

nellie-m

@peterainbow @newtsoda @Lrrr

"gaining money" as in: taking bribes for putting kittens in boxes, so that must be okay 😂

Yes, sadly, true.

Zoé :nonbinary_flag:

@newtsoda
I had seen your work (or another comic exactly on the same subject) a few months ago on Twitter, but had no account so I couldn't share/answer then.

So I do it now : thanks a lot. It made me realize that allistic people twisted my view of myself to the point of absurdity.

Newtsoda

@belgianzoe I'm happy I was able to help a little. I'm hopeful that we can continue to press for positive awareness and acceptance of autism 🙏

Cassandra

@newtsoda So extremely infuriating. "Personal failing: avoids hypocrisy."

Rimi B. Chatterjee

@newtsoda In other cultures this would be called siddhahood.

Aphrodite ☑️ :boost_ok:

@rimibchatterjee @newtsoda

I’d never heard that term before.

Very interesting concept.

Talon

@newtsoda I'm sorry if this is perhaps slightly off topic but those image descriptions are beautiful. I just wanted to thank you for putting in the time for writing them so detailed. Thank you so much!

Talon

@newtsoda I have to rely on image descriptions and I thought they were excellent! :dragon_heart:

Badri

@talon I don't *need* the image descriptions, but it always makes me happy to see that people are putting them! Thanks @newtsoda! 😇

user of nyomnyom~! :trans:​ (nyomming)

@newtsoda awe your art is so clean and nice and calming! do you have some more story-based calm-narrative ones?

(p.s. it also reminds me of how webtoons.com/en/drama/fluidum/ looks)

Whitney Loblaw

@newtsoda fabulous work, thank you for that! And thank you for image descriptions ✊🏽

Great to have you here! 🙂

A Cure For Sleep

@newtsoda This sort of reminds me of how, for a long long time we where discussed as though we didn't have empathy, where as if anything we, the issue we have an overabundance of empathy & are frequently overwhelmed by it.

Atomic Fox

@newtsoda

Honestly, I just like your last page there.

Jean-Simon DesRochers

@newtsoda Love the idea of doing official NT research (I think I have done that for most of my life)! And yes, autistic folks need to speak for themselves.

Pandawoman81

@newtsoda i am autistic and i think that a high percentage of autistic people care about social justice, but let us remember Elon is supposedly autistic tio and hos a self serving a-hole.

🦄 Laura Mølgaard Tams 🏳️‍⚧️

@Preston @newtsoda I initially read that as "self driving" instead of "self-serving". 🤭
Need to slow down with the Elon-memes, maybe. 🙈

Newtsoda

@Preston Autistics, like everyone else, are capable of a vast range of personalities, beliefs and behaviours. And, like everyone else, should be held accountable for their actions.

IAG

@Preston @newtsoda he also liked a post that said "sterilize autistic kids"
Like what the fuck

Badri

@newtsoda wow, this really puts things clearly. Also I love the descriptions on the last page! "Inflexible adherence to unwritten social rules" indeed!

Catboy Slim

@newtsoda "INEXPLICABLE COMPULSION TO PROJECT NEGATIVE SUBTEXT INTO SIMPLE CONVERSATIONS" oh jeez this ruins me

Klaus Stein

@newtsoda
Great work! :-)
So the story basically is: people are assholes (at least if there is a benefit in it) and therefore not being an asshole makes you not “normal”.

Besides of the evil framing they decided to give this about autistic people: think about what this tells about how we perceive, build and expect societies to be.

Jeff Fecke

@newtsoda@wandering.shop This isn't just biased, it's terrible science. The hallmark of autism is a lower engagement with social norms. Of course autistic people were less likely than allistics to have different views in public than private. (As for higher general morality, that wouldn't shock me either. And I say this as someone who's allistic.)

Skovheks

@newtsoda

Flawed study, but as an anecdote, it does resemble my real world observation that we behave with a more consistent conviction than NTs (which I contest that they are 'typical', rather they're favoured for being easier to exploit under capitalism)

I remember reading a study showing we've a lower representation among hate groups, attributed to having trouble handling the cognitive dissonance that keeps someone entrenched in bigotry
But he'll if I can find the bloody thing again

DELETED

@newtsoda This is one of the best image descriptions I've ever seen. Oh my goodness, thank you so much!

nellie-m

@devinprater @newtsoda

It is, isn’t it? I was very happy about it, too!

I’m not blind but I find reading comic-style information really hard. I just don’t know where to look! So I was most grateful for being able to just read it. Thank you!

Grace :v_trans: :v_bi: :v_pat:

@newtsoda

twisting good things to be bad isn't just a clear example of bias, but also of cognitive dissonance, they went in believing autistic people were going to be "worse" so when their study failed to reach that conclusion, they had to come up with some other reason why it actually super totally did prove what they wanted.

Ben Lubar (any pronouns)

@newtsoda admittedly, "autistic people have morals and this is bad because" paints a pretty complete picture of the researcher

Ludovic Archivist Lagouardette

@newtsoda

I am perfectly OK with being "too concerned about my moral compass" because at least I don't have to have a bad memory to have a good conscience

JP Sugarbroad

@newtsoda I love that last panel. “Inexplicable compulsion to project negative subtext into simple conversations” indeed!

Mathieu Perona

@newtsoda I teach a behavioural public policy class for cognitive science students, and I prepare a session about neurodiversity.
I'd like to (i) ask permission to provide my students with these panels (strictly in an academic setting, and as a cautionary tale) and (ii) know the reference of the research paper. Would that be possible?

Juho Mäntysalo

@MathieuP @newtsoda

I came to ask for the research paper's name as well, as I couldn't with good consience share the comic forward just because it fits my bias :)

So in case you get an answer (and I realise this is an old thread and the author might well have it muted), please tag me as well, if you can be bothered.

EDIT: Source wandering.shop/@newtsoda/10931

Bø!rge

@newtsoda I'd love a link to the study, thanks! :)

Riley S. Faelan

@newtsoda We get to use it as research on researchers. Luckily, you don't need an ethics committee approval to research the researchers while they're duped into thinking that it is them who are the researching.

Mopsi

@newtsoda Very interesting! Could you provide a reference to that study, btw?

Abbie 🏳️‍⚧️

@newtsoda that study is absolutely wild.

"For example, Moran et al. (2011) reported that ASD participants considered accidental negative outcomes less permissible than healthy control subjects, whereas both groups rated other types of events as having similar moral appropriateness"

I'm sorry, I don't think the control was healthy 😆

WTF

Ted Aronson

@newtsoda @sheromon I used to work in an autism research lab, and the way they explained the difference between my (non-autistic) interest in video games and an autistic "circumscribed interest" in video games was that the latter was "excessive". It took me a couple of years to think "excessive for whom?"

Go Up