High Functioning Autism and Internet Dangers, Part 3: Realized Radicalization

In this episode we continue out look into the radicalization dangers of the internet for autistic children and youth.

How do kids go from being "alt right curious" to actually joining a radicalized group?  And how does the group support these young people's needs once they are involved?

The article used in this episode describes a study of young people from Canada and the U.S. who are autistic and became radicalized.

In a series of structured interviews the authors elicited answers that led them to the conclusion that there are common themes in the younger lives of our subjects that made their radicalization more likely.

The combination of early wounds,  missed formative opportunities and finding a fit for neurodivergence were universal among the group.

The reasons for staying are varied but the commonality was that these kids felt safe and supported in their groups, sometimes even while participating in violence.

Citation for article:

Neurodivergence and the Rabbit Hole of Extremism: Uncovering Lived Experience Sachindri Wijekoon¹; John Robison²; Christie Welch³; Alexander Westphal⁴; Rachel Loftin; Barbara Perry; Victoria Rombos; Christian Picciolini; Catherine Bosyj; Lili Senman; Patrick Jachyra; Simon Baron-Cohen; Melanie Penner 

Thanks to soundimage.org for the free access to the AI generated music used in this podcast (https://soundimage.org/) 

Transcript

Is the Internet safe for Autistic Youth?

 Episode Three

Realized Radicalization

 This is the third of four episodes that discuss internet dangers and ways to keep children and youth with autism safe online.

Today I’d like to talk about the results of a study of young autistic people who entered, and then got out of, a radicalized right-wing life.

The title of the study is Neurodivergence and the Rabbit Hole of Extremism: Uncovering Lived Experience.  The program notes has a citation for the article and authors.

The study does not look at specifically how the participants got out of the radicalized life they were in, it concentrates on how they got in, and reasons they stayed with it. They were ideal subjects as they were able to look back relatively objectively on their experiences.

 In a summary of the study, from which the details are discussed later, the authors write:

12 individuals from Canada and the United States who were either diagnosed or self-identified as autistic and have engaged with extreme ideologies participated in semi-structured interviews.

Results. We identified three key things. One, early wounds. Two, missed formative opportunities. And three, finding a fit for neurodivergence. 

Traumatic experiences, disenfranchisement, learned hatred from an insular upbringing, and systemic failings in health, education and social service systems contributed to participants' decisions to engage with extreme ideologies. 

Hate groups in turn filled the voids by providing acceptance, purpose, structure, sense of community, and by accommodating participants' neurodivergent needs.

Conclusion. Autism alone did not explain participants' engagement with extreme ideologies. Trauma and disenfranchisement related to being neurodivergent were common factors that made hate groups more appealing. Proactive interventions to prevent engagement in extreme ideologies must champion inclusive environments that recognize autistic individual skills and address underlying factors that contribute to their disenfranchisement.

This is me again, as noted in all of the episodes in this series, the authors of studies I used were clear on the point that autism does not naturally lead to extremism, it is a factor to consider and to provide support to an autistic child to avoid potential problems.

 The authors point out that “autism is complex and heterogeneous. They may experience the sensory world in different ways, have strong interests, and engage in repeated behaviors. Many aspects of autism represent strengths in the right context. 

Because of this, extremist groups have sought to recruit autistic individuals to utilize their strengths, often with a stereotypical view of their technological prowess and affinity for repetitive tasks. 

They continue, Work from our group exploring the term weaponized autism on alt-right social media platforms showed that autistic people were described as ripe for exploitation. This was less due to core features of autism and instead related to the disenfranchisement of autistic people who are cynically described as N-E-E-T, meaning the targets lack education, employment, and training.

Before we get further into the article, I would like to mention that the participants that were the subjects of the study almost all had extremist right-wing families or grew up in chaotic and abusive situations. 

So while the article is very good in terms of describing what happens when people try to get out of radicalized life, their path to radicalization was certainly made more possible by their background.

Now going on, the authors expand on the identified three interconnected themes that led to radicalization. The first remember,  was early wounds, the second missed formative opportunities, and third finding a fit for neurodivergence. 

They talk about early wounds first. "Participants shared a common thread, an overwhelmingly traumatic childhood. Compound traumas included physical abuse, emotional neglect, sexual exploitation, and exposure to violence and substance abuse. 

One participant said, "My adopted father passed away the year after I was born. It was turbulent. I was molested as a kid. There was a lot of substance abuse, like get drunk fast enough to like each other." 

Attachment disruptions were prevalent, including parental neglect or abuse, separation, including death from guardians, and insufficient attention from family or professionals, creating as one shared, "My mother …passed away when I was 14. Suddenly passed away. My two brothers were much older than me, so I was this lonely latch-key kid coming home to an empty house”. 

A catalytic event was often a part of the early wounds. Several participants described how a traumatizing experience altered their view of safety and trust. 

A participant said, “A lot of these guys had some really tragic story that happened to involve someone of another race, Then it gave them a direction to point their anger. X, when he was like 10 years old, he was walking home from school. Some older kids just beat the S.. out of him and actually broke his face so bad that the front portion of his face was a plate that he could remove. This incident had a long-lasting effect that shaped his view”. 

The participants talked about being victimized in a neurotypical world. 

One shared, “People thought I was a school shooter because I didn't know how to talk to people. They were afraid of me. Everyone just picked on me. They didn't know I was autistic and because I acted differently they figured I was, you know, they were just picking me on me all the time. I was very isolated. I was angry at the world.”

This oftentimes led to more intense anger.  One participant, “I didn't have friends until I was 14 years old. You can imagine how difficult that is. I remember that incredible deep, deep resentment that became total hatred, and the planning, and a really skewed reasoning. I suffered from that kind of anger for about six years. I was even violent with my friends”.

Participant’s experience fueled anger and longing for acceptance, prompting them to seek out inclusive spaces that valued and empowered them. 

"I just never felt like I belonged in society, so I would look for groups that would take in others”.

The next section the authors talk about are early life missed formative opportunities. These children typically had an insular and hateful upbringing. Many of them grew up in white nationalist environments and those environments internalized the ideologies. 

A participant said, "I grew up in a religious right family that also had a neo-Confederate ideology. We would pass by a yard that had the third national confederate battle flag flying in their yard, and my dad would get all pumped up." 

Bigotry was a pervasive part of all the participants' upbringing with hate symbols accessible in their homes. One participant, "My grandfather on my father's side will not hesitate to say the N-word. It didn't matter who was around. Some were introduced to organized racism early on. I remember being like a kid when my dad took me to my first clan rally”.

The next missed opportunity is when the kids slip through the cracks. The authors write, Participants discussed the under-recognition of neurodivergent feature by parents and professionals, resulting in a failure to seek formal diagnoses and professional assistance. 

Most participants had not been formally diagnosed as autistic, but rather self-identified based on their experiences of feeling weird or eccentric, not fitting in with the crowds and not being able to form or maintain social relationships. Many describe having features of autism dismissed by parents and other adults.

One of the participants said, "My parents were like, 'We know the autistic kids. They bang their heads against the wall and stuff like that. They're like, 'Our kid is not autistic. And if you say it again, we're gonna flip our lid on you.' Because autistic people have terrible lives and they never hold jobs, and so a parent just didn't want to acknowledge it."

The education system didn't escape scrutiny in this. Oversights in the assessment and referral practices of clinicians and teachers were discussed. 

One of the participants said, "They just thought I was weird, but a good teacher would have tried to help me." 

Participants cited a lack of proactive measures to access supports despite their neurodivergence being evident. 

One shared, "Everyone that I was at school with called me autistic. My guidance counselors were always suspecting like you could be autistic, but I didn't get diagnosed with ADHD until I was maybe four years ago. So it's really been a lifelong struggle to feel figure out what is up with me”.

The third trauma in early life was finding a fit for their neurodivergence. Participates reported certain characteristics of their autism and neurodivergence such as hyper fixation, unmet social needs, preference for rules, routines, and structure, and emotional dysregulation influence their engagement with extreme ideologies. 

One youth said, "There was a sense in which my autism was valued. Looking back, I'm now realizing that there was also a sense in which they just wanted the benefits of it. But overall, you're still less than us. It's a deceitful tactic, but I think that they mainly preyed on the fact that I felt marginalized”.

As a complicating factor in all this, many people with autism have an all-consuming interest. The authors wrote, Participants reported that their initial interests in benign topics, such as Norse mythology, expanded to associated topics, leading them to dangerous communities such as white supremacist forums, reportedly without their intent. 

One shared “I was looking into North paganism at the time. This is what led me down the road of getting me to these white supremacist forums”.

Hyper fixation on topics led to the ability to interact with others who had a similar profile. 

One said, “Within the group itself, I had a couple of good friends. 80% I'd say of the guys who were in the group were both intelligent and interested enough to have theoretical, idea-based conversations”.

They found desired connections in these groups. 

One participant reported that, "Social isolation is one of the biggest things in my life. I'm way more isolated than I want to be and I'm trying to do something about that, but I become overwhelmed. I'm mostly just, well, right here. This is where I sit every day and study in this spot, maybe like eight hours a day."

Hate-based groups preyed upon this. 

"I would have joined the youth group of the church if they had shown us any interest at all, but they never did." The hate group came along and said, ‘Hey, we'll be your family, and no one will ever make fun of you again, and you will have power.’ Well, that's pretty enticing.”

The authors say the participants desired a sense of community and social connection. For those who were recruited the invitation to join a community was irresistible. 

A participant, “We don't usually fit in anywhere so don't hand us a full invitation because we will just be like, okay now, I'm part of something I'm going to go along with you”. 

Participants sought spaces that satisfied their need for social interaction without requiring adherence to neurotypical standards. 

One said, “there were a few leaders in the hate group that kept everyone else away from me. They were obviously aware that I got a little bit shook talking to strangers. My interactions were with these five or six people for the most part and that made me feel comfortable because I got to know those people and what to expect from them. They knew it and so they protected me from being around too many people in one-to-one situations”.

Autistic features, which might have been a cause for past social exclusion, were suddenly prized attributes. 

A predictable environment is a strong need, the need for structure and predictability, and manifesting in their need for routine, clear expectations and adherence to rules and regulations. 

Having clear expectations for behavior enabled navigation of social interactions. 

"I think I like that there was a sense of order because even when we were out being violent, we had a code of conduct and rules. So the entire time I was with them, I didn't do meth because the group had the viewpoint that drugs were just polluting your perfect Aryan body."

Another, the ritual on the regalia and the hierarchy of white extremism. Like there's a uniform. 

“I don't have to think about it. That really resonated with me. There's a black nylon bomber jacket and everyone wears the same patch and the same place on your bomber jacket. Everything is the same every single time and that is very soothing”.

And finally, there's the experience of emotional resonance. Participants reported difficulty controlling emotions, leading to disruptive outbursts starting in early childhood. They described receiving message that these feelings were prohibited and needed to be suppressed.  

“I was a socially awkward kid with a lot of anger and a lot of rage, but then for most of my life was told that I wasn't allowed to have it, and then to give into it was something I wasn't allowed to do”. 

Participants attributed their anger to experiences of exclusion and a lack of accommodation, which further isolated them by provoking negative responses from peers.And some participants attributed their engagement, these activities, to the emotional resonance. 

“I didn't hate Jewish people. I think I was there because the other guys were angry. I was there for the violence. I was there for the anger because I was angry”.

With that will wrap this episode up and remember that the fourth podcast is this series will explore ways to protect your child from the dangers we have been talking about.

In the first episode of this series, Who is at Risk, we talked about the who and why of on-line dangers

In the second episode of the series, titled Yes, Grooming is a Real Thing.  I reviewed a portion of a book, Black Pill, that makes the need for intervention more relevant and apparent.  We saw there are online dangers that both exploit and provide acceptance to kids with autism, a sometimes-dangerous mix

And in the fourth episode, Keeping Your Child Safe Online, we’ll look at what research says about how to respond to the dangers.