Chloé Hayden realizes that she isn’t the stereotypical face of autism — but the Australian singer and actor is intent on changing public perceptions of what it means to be neurodiverse.

Hayden has amassed an Instagram following of more than 50,000 users, populating her feed with colorful portraits and captions that range from inspirational to informative. On TikTok, her reach is even bigger: with nearly 260,000 followers, Hayden, who goes by @princessaspien on social media, uses her platform to educate users about neurodiversity.

“When you [have someone] who wears flower crowns and wears sparkles and is a woman, and is very vibrant and very bold and very out, people look at that and go, ‘Oh, that’s not autism, you’re faking it,’” Hayden tells Teen Vogue.

Hayden is part of a small but powerful cohort of neurodiverse creators who are using TikTok to redefine typical narratives about ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, and other diagnoses. Teen Vogue spoke to five of these creators to understand the change they hope to effect through their content — and how their work is changing them.

Each creator got their start on TikTok a little differently. Paige Layle (@paigelayle), whose account boasts the most followers of the five, says she initially downloaded the app “as a joke.” Hedy Dolan (@hedydolan) says she joined TikTok because her sister was on it; Evelyn Elston (@evelynjeans) did so because she had free time during quarantine.

Eventually, something compelled each of them to transition from sharing Charli D’Amelio–style dance videos to making content about neurodiversity. For Layle, it was a trending recording mocking autism that was circulating on the platform. She posted a TikTok in response, explaining why the audio was ableist, and it was her first video to surpass one million views. Eleven months later, she’s accumulated more than a million followers.

Her work has had a generative impact: Elston says she decided to start making videos about autism after reading a BuzzFeed article about Layle’s surge in popularity.

“I really thought for a long time that I was the only person who felt the way I did, and that I was the only person who had this kind of experience that I did,” Elston tells Teen Vogue. Now, she hopes her own account will have the same influence on other young neurodiverse people who feel alone.

Though their strategies for spreading awareness vary, their approaches are marked by a nuanced understanding of how to manipulate TikTok’s algorithms to reach the widest audience. The creators say that series — multiple thematically linked videos — tend to do the best, like Elston’s series about fictional characters she believes exhibit “autistic traits,” or Hayden’s series about common traits in females diagnosed with autism.

These creators believe their videos reach two audiences: in one group, neurotypical users, many of whom may not be more than casually familiar with autism; and in the other group, neurodiverse users and the people who love them. Their content thus serves the dual purpose of educating and building community.

Despite all the support their follower counts evidence, any influencer can tell you that fans are always accompanied by detractors. For neurodiverse creators, negative comments are often more complex than the hate Hype House members face, as misinformation and ignorance mix with malice.

When asked how often she has to deal with negativity on her account, Layle laughs.

“All the time,” she says. “Twenty-four seven.”

Sometimes, users’ intentions seem purely cruel: Elston says one common refrain that’s “hard to hear” is parents expressing relief at their decision not to vaccinate their children “so they don’t turn out like [her].” (According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no link between childhood vaccinations and autism spectrum disorder.) Other users leave inappropriate comments about the creators’ age or appearance, like comments Dolan says she’s received encouraging her to create an OnlyFans account.

But much of the time, they say, comments seem more misinformed than mean. Users have questions about the prevalence of autism diagnoses in cisgender males versus cisgender females or the difference between person-first and identity-first language. By engaging with users in the comments or creating videos responding to popular misconceptions, they hope to change the way neurotypical people think about neurodiversity.

The creators Teen Vogue spoke to say this work is changing them too. Cheryl Fyfield (@_thislineismine), a British creator, says that being on TikTok has “made me confident and comfortable, and I feel like I have a voice, whereas before I felt like no one really knew my story.”

Almost universally, the creators say that their favorite part of having a platform has been connecting with other neurodiverse people and forming communities they previously lacked. Elston says that while she’s known other people with autism or ADHD before, she never held close relationships with them, but is now a member of an Instagram group chat for neurodiverse women and nonbinary people — a sentiment other creators echoed.

Their feelings are supported by science: Micah Mazurek and Gerrit Van Schalkwyk, professors at the University of Virginia and University of Utah, respectively, tell Teen Vogue about two separate studies they conducted that confirmed the positive influence of social media in neurodiverse teenagers’ and adults’ lives. Van Schalkwyk says that neurodiverse young people who use social media tend to have stronger friendships, and more of them, than their peers who stay offline, potentially because social media “makes up for some of the differences in their communication style and plays to their strengths, in particular.”

There are profound cultural consequences of young people using their sizable platforms to reshape the narrative of neurodiversity. These five creators collectively boast around 1.4 million followers on TikTok alone, and every day, they’re working to reach new neurotypical people to educate — and, most importantly, to help neurodiverse people feel seen.

“There’s a huge audience of neurodiverse people who, for a long time, have been just kind of swept under the rug if they don’t look and sound like this very stereotypical depiction of autism that we get in the media,” Elston says.

It’s important to note that these creators are not representative of the neurodiverse community at large: all five are white women.

Dolan says that the most popular neurodiverse creators on her “For You” page all seem to be conventionally attractive white women or nonbinary people. She says it would be valuable to hear from more creators with different perspectives and experiences, particularly people who didn’t have abundant access to supportive resources growing up like she did.

“I always tell my followers, ‘If you’re just listening to me, you’re not listening,’” Layle says. “I am queer, I am disabled, but I’m white. The first thing you see about me is that I’m a white person. There are tons of Black people, tons of people of color, [who] are autistic [who] deserve representation in every way.”

Mazurek says that one factor contributing to the disparity in representation might be the fact that Black children are more likely to be diagnosed with autism at an older age compared to their white peers.

Hayden is hopeful that the most racially diverse and socially progressivegeneration in history will help expand the representation of neurodiverse people across social platforms, and uplift them offline too.

“I think Gen Z is incredible,” she says. “I think they’re really going to change the world one day. I think they see ableism […] and they see things that aren’t the way the world should be and they’re like, ‘Okay, well here’s someone who’s actually part of the community [and] trying to make a difference, let’s listen to them,’ which I think is really cool.”