A woman has become a social-media sensation after rebranding her autistic burnout as her “flop era”.
Beth Hapworth, 28, who runs an Instagram account detailing her experiences with autistic burnout, made the change after noticing her follower count was low. The results were almost instant: after reframing her autistic traits as quirky social media micro-trends, her followers and likes shot up exponentially.
Hapworth said of her newfound fame: “I used to feel ashamed of my burnout until I started presenting myself as a disgraced celebrity. Now when I have to shuffle to the shops in my pyjamas, wearing sunglasses because I can’t stand the sunlight, I pretend I’m an off-duty popstar hoping the paps won’t catch me.”
“Rebranding has elevated my autism into something that’s relatable and even aspirational,” she continued. “Instead of saying I eat the same food every day, I say I’m embracing digestive minimalism. Whenever I need to rehearse a script of what to say before I make a phone call, that’s ‘Meryl-Streeping’.”
Hapworth’s line manager Christine Smout, 52, commented: “I’m a bit worried that it’s all gone to her head. Every time I ask her to do something, she says ‘It’s giving girlboss’.”
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