A new study by University of Ottawa published in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, says that YouTube plays a big role in shaping people’s perception about (ASD) Autism Spectrum Disorder.
ASD is generally defined as a neurodevelopmental condition that affects the interaction, communication and behavior of a person experiencing it. According to the analysis of YouTube videos, people show both positive and negative reactions about ASD. It is also often misunderstood and a lot of people do not have any information about it so they just stigmatize and misconceptualized it.
The researchers analyzed the comments of ASD-related YouTube videos from 2019 and 2022. The study centered around identifying themes, thoughts, feelings and perceptions of people around ASD. From YouTube videos in 2019, the researchers gathered 500 comments from 50 videos, while from YouTube videos in 2022, the researchers gathered 180 comments from 9 videos.
The videos were then divided according to their themes like videos about personal experience of ASD, daily life of a person with ASD, educational information about ASD, etc. Comments under these videos were categorized according to the sentiments and people’s thoughts about ASD. The study then found that 52.7% of the videos were aimed to provide educational information about ASD, without any specifications of gender. These videos just talked about autism, its signs, diagnosis and other characteristics.
YouTube videos which were about personal experiences and daily life routines of people with ASD were also common. Comments under the kinds of videos talked about their own personal experiences with ASD or about someone they knew in real life. The study found that both positive and negative comments were there under the ASD videos that were analyzed. Even though there were more negative comments in some cases too, no comments used stereotypical or damaging language. This shows that people are more respectful of ASD and try to be mindful.
There were some limitations to the study too, like researchers have taken just a small sample of ASD-related YouTube videos and all of those videos were in English. YouTube algorithm might have also acted into showing only the videos that are biased to one side only. In conclusion, this study didn’t talk about the global perspective and cannot be applied to people across all masses.
Image: DIW-Aigen
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ASD is generally defined as a neurodevelopmental condition that affects the interaction, communication and behavior of a person experiencing it. According to the analysis of YouTube videos, people show both positive and negative reactions about ASD. It is also often misunderstood and a lot of people do not have any information about it so they just stigmatize and misconceptualized it.
The researchers analyzed the comments of ASD-related YouTube videos from 2019 and 2022. The study centered around identifying themes, thoughts, feelings and perceptions of people around ASD. From YouTube videos in 2019, the researchers gathered 500 comments from 50 videos, while from YouTube videos in 2022, the researchers gathered 180 comments from 9 videos.
The videos were then divided according to their themes like videos about personal experience of ASD, daily life of a person with ASD, educational information about ASD, etc. Comments under these videos were categorized according to the sentiments and people’s thoughts about ASD. The study then found that 52.7% of the videos were aimed to provide educational information about ASD, without any specifications of gender. These videos just talked about autism, its signs, diagnosis and other characteristics.
YouTube videos which were about personal experiences and daily life routines of people with ASD were also common. Comments under the kinds of videos talked about their own personal experiences with ASD or about someone they knew in real life. The study found that both positive and negative comments were there under the ASD videos that were analyzed. Even though there were more negative comments in some cases too, no comments used stereotypical or damaging language. This shows that people are more respectful of ASD and try to be mindful.
There were some limitations to the study too, like researchers have taken just a small sample of ASD-related YouTube videos and all of those videos were in English. YouTube algorithm might have also acted into showing only the videos that are biased to one side only. In conclusion, this study didn’t talk about the global perspective and cannot be applied to people across all masses.
Read next: Did You Just Agree to Be Tracked? Apps Secretly Fuel Government Surveillance!
