đź“Ł Autistic Creators Speak Out

CREATOR ECONOMY NEWSLETTER


Many neurodivergent creators use social media platforms to combat stigma and spread awareness around their lives. Hashtags like #autism, #autistic, and #neurodiversity gained billions of views on platforms like TikTok in recent years.

However, while TikTok has been a place of great representation and community for neurodivergent creators, it’s been a double-edged sword. As Passionfruit contributor Charlotte Colombo explains this week, oftentimes autistic creators’ comments sections are flooded with viewers babying them and gushing about how “adorable” they are.

Colombo also explores how this infantilizing gaze applies to the significant number of accounts that are dedicated to an autistic person’s life but are controlled by a parent, partner, or caregiver. She shares why she thinks these portrayals are problematic and also shares the perspectives of many creators and social media users fed up with infantilization on the platform.


THE HIGHLIGHT

The infantilization of autistic people on TikTok needs to stop


ONE GREAT TIP


TIPS AND TRICKS

​​TikTok star Evan the Card Guy shares how he hooked 16 million followers

“I started doing what I like to call interactive magic or interactive content.”

By Grace Stanley, Newsletter Editor


TOOLS REVIEW

woman holding chips up to microphone in front of pink background ASMR

How to make tingly brain-massaging ASMR videos

There’s never been a better time to get started making your own.

By Rachel Kiley, Passionfruit Contributor


IN THE BIZ


TIKTOK MADE ME DO IT

Content for Creators.

News, tips, and tricks delivered to your inbox twice a week.

Newsletter Signup

Latest Newsletters

  • Meta AI Launches This Month’s Featured Flavor of Techno-Dystopia and It’s a Kendall Jenner Chatbot

    Meta AI Launches This Month’s Featured Flavor of Techno-Dystopia and It’s a Kendall Jenner Chatbot

    CREATOR NEWSLETTER Issue #176 | October 12, 2023 It’s been a tough week. I don’t know how other people are coping, but not since September 11th have I felt such sickening dread upon waking up every morning. I don’t want to say anything publicly — well scratch that, I very much do — but fear…

  • An Anti-Algorithm Manifesto

    An Anti-Algorithm Manifesto

    CREATOR NEWSLETTER Issue #175 | Oct. 10, 2023 Last Wednesday, Jack Conte, the founder and CEO of Patreon (and former co-creator of 2010s YouTube-viral band Pomplamoose), dropped a flashy, musical, vloggy video explaining his company’s new vision and platform updates. The 39-year-old-creator-turned-entreprenuer shows himself mixing beats on keyboards and drum machines, passionately explaining that the…

  • Sell Out With Me, Oh Yeah!

    Sell Out With Me, Oh Yeah!

    CREATOR NEWSLETTER Issue #174 | Oct. 5, 2023 Anyone catch the Reel Big Fish reference in the subject, anyone? Bueller? That’s another reference to an even earlier cultural touchpoint, back when our media was more of a monoculture than a multiverse. There was a time when there were only so many movies on the shelf…