Architecture
Why every mechanism carries a source
Statements about autistic neurology are only verifiable when the source is directly linked. Without a link, a statement remains a claim. With a link, it becomes an anchor that any reader can follow back to the original study.
From this observation a structural change to Autistic Mirror emerged. Below the H1 of every blog article there is now a compact source block. When the article addresses a mechanism for which a validated original publication exists, that publication is visibly linked. With author, year and DOI.
How the source block is built
Behind the block sits a curated lexicon in the platform's code. Every entry passes three checks before it is admitted. First, the original publication of the mechanism must be named. Second, the DOI must resolve and live with a known publisher (Nature, Springer, Sage, Elsevier, Wiley, BMJ, Cambridge, Frontiers, PLOS, NEJM and comparable). Third, the source abstract must cover the statement that the article cites. Only when all three checks pass does the entry enter the lexicon.
Current state: sixty entries with a source. They cover the mechanisms that appear most often in the app and on the blog. Monotropism, predictive coding, sensory processing fatigue, masking, autistic burnout, double empathy, interoception, time blindness, polyvagal theory and others. Plus the most frequent co-occurring conditions with their own aetiology (EDS, ME/CFS adjacency, MCAS, POTS, epilepsy, Tourette) and the intersectional axes for which robust studies exist.
What deliberately does not happen
There are no AI-generated sources. There are no secondary citations of the "cited in" kind. There are no content summaries that are retrofitted with a plausibly sounding DOI. If no validated lexicon entry exists for a statement, the passage stays without a source. The statement can then only appear in a generic form ("research on the locus coeruleus shows ...") or not at all.
This rule is strict, because it is the only one that prevents drift. The moment a single statement carries an invented DOI, the anchor is damaged for every other one.
Where the block is visible
The source block appears directly below the H1 in all seven language variants of an article. The same data structure feeds the source reference on every glossary card in the personal glossary inside the app. When the app explains a term in a response, the same entry can carry the term into the glossary, with the same validated source.
Maintenance happens in clearly bounded waves. Each wave checks a closed group of mechanisms, documents the three check steps per entry and writes the result as a code change. Entries are not added silently. New sources only enter through a new wave, never through a one-off edit on the blog.
What remains
Traceability is not a gesture. It is a verifiable property of the platform. Whoever reads about a mechanism on Autistic Mirror can travel from the statement to the original study in two clicks. Whoever finds no source knows that none was promised at that point on purpose. Both are part of the same discipline.
Autistic Mirror is an AI chat that explains autistic neurology individually and in relation to the specific situation. Mechanism instead of advice. Explanation instead of correction. The app is not a medical device and does not replace medical or therapeutic treatment.
