Attitudes of Chinese public towards the autism community: Evidence from a decade of Weibo data.

Autism is a highly stigmatized developmental disorder in Chinese society, with the public harboring many prejudices and misunderstandings towards individuals with autism.Grounded in ABC attitude theory, explores the status, trends, and characteristics of Weibo users' attitudes towards the autism community. Utilizing natural language processing and machine learning techniques, the study analyzes 1,113,014 Weibo posts concerning autism, spanning from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2022. Findings indicate that Weibo users generally hold a positive and progressively improving attitude towards the autism community, particularly in affective and behavioral dimensions. However, the cognitive dimension of these attitudes remains relatively underdeveloped. Notable variations in attitudes and their components are evident across demographic variables such as gender, age, educational level, and verification status. These insights offer valuable guidance for policy-making by relevant authorities and contribute to enhancing public acceptance of individuals with autism.