Ok this guy was obviously being super unnecessarily rude and dismissive of his partner, but it reminded me, i actually find memes hellishly inaccessible as a way of reading or communicating information

In a bad moment they can even be a bit upsetting https://twitter.com/bonesauce94/status/1258769866431041538

I think as an #ActuallyAutistic person there's a few reasons i find memes so difficult to figure out:

- often rely on context from a popular movie or TV show I've never seen (cause i don't watch much new media) so I'm already at a disadvantage

- i keep auto play off and don't play the memes videos bc repetitive movement is a sensory trigger. So if the entire meaning isn't readily apparent from the thumb nail i won't get it

- reliance on no context facial expressions

Like, there's some memes i can get the point of ok just by the still or thumb nail, esp the ones that have text or captions on the image, but even then i don't communicate w them myself bc they're too vague: i need communication that's specific and nuanced

Idk if i really had a point. But yeah that's why if you reply to one of my tweets w a gif or meme there's a good chance i won't interact w your response at all

Oh, i was gonna add why/when they can be upsetting: if I'm scrolling through my tl and i just see a picture that what's happening isn't instantly obvious, my brain might not be able to *not* attempt to parse out a meaning

But when the image and surrounding text

Provide no context and the thumb nail doesn't either, it's my sleepy little eyes trying to interpret from an infinite pool it possible context and meaning, it's just confusing and draining

Frankly it'd be nice if Twitter had a feature to choose to hide all images/gifs/video completely unless you click to view, but alas i don't think there is such a thing