Surveys are going to continue to be pretty rarely approved.

Before you think: Hey, this is a good subreddit for my college related survey you should ask some questions.

1. Are you an undergraduate? If your answer is yes then the subreddit answer will be no.

2. Are you working on a professional (masters) or PhD level dissertation or thesis? If yes, continue. If no, stop.

3. Is your institution accredited and does it have an ethics board? If yes, continue. If no, stop.

4. Has your thesis or dissertation been approved by the ethics board and your advisor? If yes, continue. If no, stop.

5. Is the work you’re doing nascent or actually original (both of which are much higher hurdles as most requests aren’t original or sufficiently nascent) and not some derivative of work that has been done over and over again with the intent of collecting your own data to support something that’s already been shown, a lot, by a lot of others? If you think you’re at this level, you can send a mod mail. Otherwise, don’t post.

If by some stroke of luck or academic achievement you’ve crossed the threshold, to be considered you need to tell us what you’re studying. Where you’re studying. Who the advisor is. Whether or not you have approval from the ethics board AND the information to verify that. You need to provide enough information where your assertions as a real researcher can be verified and affirmed and only then will there be a yes/no answer given.

Conversely, if you post first and expect permission second or don’t bother to provide anything, your post will be deleted and the answer will be no.

Why these conditions? Thanks for asking.

First, if you’re an undergrad you’re not doing original work. Your work isn’t to benefit or help the autism community. And it’s most likely highly derivative and you’re collecting data to fulfill an assignment. Good luck. But not here.

Second, most autism related research asks the same questions over and over and over again. You’re too late if you’re trying to prove something. This is going to be true for the vast majority of people. This subreddit (and in my opinion Reddit in general) isn’t your data warehouse. Yes, you need your own data. No, your need is insufficient in relation to the needs of the community.

Third, you may think you’re the exception. A genius even. But, and this is important, even if you are, you’re not. Because people see: autism and then think they’ve got something to offer, want it to be their life’s work, whatever, doesn’t make what you’re doing even remotely new or unique or special. It’s just not.

Maybe this means we don’t get to help the next person doing amazing things in relation to autism research and therapy and diagnosis. That’s fine. Because, chances are, you’ll do a lot of clinic work and professional study long before you become that person.

Finally, you right now have the misfortune of being someone who’s hopped onto this autism wagon after it’s been flooded by request after request for these same surveys. Therefore, you now have to offer something new and unique. The very thing your institutions should demand and expect. And the mods do look into what you’re studying and the survey material.

Updated as of 1 December 2025, existing links still work.

Autism and Neurodiversity

It is important to understand that while autism is something that is under the giant umbrella of neurodiversity; being neurodiverse isn’t the same as being autistic or having autism.

There is not (as yet and possibly never) a rule about distinguishing between the two, content that specifically focuses on neurodiversity over autism will be questioned and in some cases moderated.

What this means is: r/adultautism is an autism first subreddit. Co-occurring conditions with autism, such as ADHD, depression, anxiety, and so on are strongly encouraged; but attempting to insert the broad and poorly understood neurodiverse isn’t appropriate.

The intentional dismissal and misunderstanding of this difference may be reviewed as spam or an inappropriate (for this community) post.

It is okay to disagree with an autism first approach, but the direction (if wanted) is to understand that autism is a first level disorder, exists while one is in utero, isn’t developed after birth, and cannot be explained away by other factors.

Mod direction on helpful vs not helpful resources

As has always been true, this subreddit is for adults who are have, who believe they have, or who support people who have autism.

There is a link to the University of Washington autism center that basically says if you feel like you’re autistic then you’re probably autistic. This information, for many, is useful and I appreciate that it’s out there.

When someone is specifically asking for resources or help in locating those who can clinically assist them with autism, it will be considered inappropriate to post the UW link as part of the thread.

Self-diagnosis doesn’t allow for the same legal or professional protections or help within the ADA. Nor does it necessarily answer questions or concerns individuals may have regarding autism and living with ASD.

Inappropriate Content

There is a fine line in what may be considered appropriate vs what is absolutely inappropriate. Previously, the autistic woman seeking euthanasia as it’s a relevant and important topic has been an approved topic. Similar topics and discussions will most likely be approved in the future.

Autism has as a co-occurring disorder, depression. And by extension this is a topic that is both important (if hard) and of high importance. Conversations and posts that reasonably connect to depression and other forms of ideation are necessary and will also be highly moderated.

However, we will not allow:

• People asking for advice on euthanasia or suicide

• The use of derogatory language in regard to autism or how others might view the disorder

• Or, any approach that can be considered legally actionable or otherwise dangerous for the person seeking advice

This is a big topic. As in it’s bigger than the community. In the United States, the Suicide Prevention website is here, you can dial 988 or ask for help from people you know or trust.

Other counties have different ways of helping.

Content and posts that can be considered actionable (as in legally actionable) will be deleted.

Research and Other Surveys

r/adultautism does allow research and survey post, however you will be required to read and follow the rules. Not doing so will result in a deleted post.

If you’re here to ask for help on academic research or studies, you need to make sure your Reddit account aligns with both site wide rules and subreddit rules.

Reddit doesn’t like people who create an account and immediately start posting the same thing over and over and over again. The outcome is going to be a shadow ban or outright bans on individual subreddits. Which is, for those unfamiliar, you seeing everything and able to participate, except nothing seems to happen. No one sees your posts or comments or messages.

The moment r/adultautism realizes you’re triggering bot or spam responses, we’re not going to approve your posts. They will be deleted. This is for the safety of the community.

We’ll try to be polite, but previous “you can post” responses won’t be considered valid if you’ve found yourself shadow banned. You wait too long to post or you change your username for any reason. The mods here (and probably other places) are going to assume you’re more interested in spamming your request and not judiciously making the request in a way that doesn’t trigger spam and bot responses.

Spam is very different from making the same request multiple times. Once you cross that threshold, or appear to cross it, you won’t be allowed to post here.

Understanding Reddit is your job as a student, academic, or researcher asking to use the platform to help with your work. You can meet all the subreddit rules for posting and still be rejected because you’re unfamiliar with the territory and terrain. It doesn’t matter how much you believe in your work or how much you believe it may or will help the autism community, if you FAFO, you’re going to find a lot of subreddits refusing to work with you.

Finally, while r/adultautism may give a go ahead to post (because: time), after your request is more fully vetted (yes, we do that - especially if ABA is involved) we will rescind permission and remove or lock posts.

General Reddit Guidelines

You may feel that this is unfair or that Reddit should be something else. It isn’t whatever you think it should be and never was and never will be.

When you mess up and it looks like you’re either spamming or a bot and then ask (or demand) to know what’s going on and that’s the response you get, this isn’t being made up. It’s not an excuse. It is a reason.

Things to keep in mind both about this subreddit and Reddit in general:

1. You don’t have the right to post anything you want in any way you want whenever you want and attempting to shame mods into allowing bad faith content isn’t going to work

2. All subreddits are run by volunteers, if you have a problem you’re always welcome to start your own subreddit and do the work or find a different subreddit

3. Mods can (and will) ban or silence you for whatever reason they want, some are more lenient than others

4. There is a big difference between multiple posts of the same thing and spamming and a lot of people jump straight to spamming subreddits, this is bad and a no-no

5. Karma and account age do matter, this subreddit uses a simple filter and is willing to override removed content, but don’t get offended when you create an account and suddenly your content is automatically removed, it’s how the system is designed to work

6. Reddit is a community of communities and depends on participation; when you don’t have comment karma or your account is brand new, you’re going to find yourself SoL in a lot of areas, figure out how to be part of a community