09/24/2021
It’s time to listen to the Autistic community (Autistic people NOT Neurotypical people) and start respecting their voices and wishes for the puzzle piece to be thrown out... and yes I will be using identity first language in this post as it’s the preferred language and saying “person with Autism”/ “on the spectrum” detaches the person from their Autistic brain and without our brain we aren’t the same person. Also it sounds like it’s an illness or disease by saying “has” or “with” and that’s not what Autism is and it makes it sound like it’s something that can be cured like an illness… when it can’t. Our brains ARE Autistic, we view the world and life with our Autistic brain… it’s a huge part of us and separating us from our Autistic brain is wrong. We need to ACCEPT AUTISM, and accept that we have Autistic brains. People need to ACCEPT Autistic people better. Being Autistic isn’t anything to be ashamed about and “Autistic” isn’t a dirty word. It’s time to view things differently from our point of view and it’s time to start using the two appropriate symbols for Autism also instead! It’s time to allow Autistic people to have a symbol they like that has a more positive history/ meaning to it than the one created in the 60’s by Neurotypical people without including us.
There’s the rainbow colour spectrum infinity symbol that is for Neurodiversity which Autism is a part. Because Autistic people are more likely to have other neurodivergent conditions too… it’s why the Rainbow Infinity Symbol is the most popular amongst Autistic people.
We also have the gold infinity symbol which was created by Autistic people for Autism Acceptance…. And in the periodic table of elements gold is ‘Au’ which is the first two letters of Autism/ Autistic which is pretty cool. There sadly are some Autistic people out there that wrongly think the rainbow infinity symbol represents just Autism but that’s not true and it never has been.
Sadly people are gatekeeping the rainbow infinity symbol from the whole Neurodiversity community. The Two people who created the rainbow infinity symbol can’t decide if it should be for Neurodiversity as a whole or just Autism. But the Autistic community at most accepts it for neurodiversity due to Autistic people being more likely to have other neurodivergent conditions also. The Neurodiversity movement which is a human rights campaign to create change and acceptance for Autistic people and also all other neurodivergent people, so considering it’s main focus has mostly been on Autism… there’s no need for people to be silly and gatekeep it especially considering the good the Neurodiversity movement does.
Here’s a little bit from Autistic UK website
“The use of the infinity symbol came from the growing popularity of it in spectrum colours to promote Neurodiversity. The idea of endless possibilities and untapped potential resonate through this symbol providing a simple and recognisable concept in one.
Autism is itself a spectrum, but we were looking for a unique identifier (without needing to ‘cure’ it). So the idea of combining the two came to the fore. If Autistics use Gold, then other Neurodiverse communities can use their choice of colour too.”
We need to remember that the puzzle piece symbol isn’t a piece of art. Personal interpretations don’t matter when talking about what it actually means. It was and is used to portray autism as “puzzling”, Autistic people as having a “piece missing” and all in all something to be “fixed”, a sentiment the Autistic community widely resents. Your personal interpretations don’t change what it’s actually used to represent and unless you’re Autistic yourself, it’s not for you to reclaim and even then not for you to decide alone. And seeing the Autistic community widely see the puzzle piece symbol as problematic and stigmatising... it’s time to move on and start using the two symbols chosen by the Autistic community instead. Autistic peoples voices matter the most as THEY are the ones who are Autistic.
Family often view the puzzle piece in a positive light and view the puzzle piece as THEIR missing piece to their family, meaning their Autistic child... but as previously said... it’s not a piece of art and you cannot change the meaning of the puzzle piece symbol and what it has represented for years.
It’s time to be respectful and listen to Autistic people on this matter... it’s not up for debate as the Autistic community for years have already been vocal about this. Move on to a better symbol that is accepted by the wider autistic community and IS NOT stigmatising or harmful to us.
We ask for you to move on from a symbol we consider a harmful symbol and move on to using the infinity symbols we have chosen.
We also must remember that just because YOUR child likes the puzzle piece symbol it’s no excuse to dismiss the the Autistic communities feelings towards it being a harmful symbol. You must realise that parents likes will rub off on their children, so if they like the puzzle piece symbol and use it then the child is going to like it to... it’s that simple. Introduce them to the accepted symbols and explain how awesome they are!
Here’s the conclusion from research about the puzzle piece symbol and if it evokes negative associations (link to this is amongst the links at the end) “Participants explicitly associated puzzle pieces, even generic puzzle pieces, with incompleteness, imperfection, and oddity. Our results bear public policy implications. If an organization's intention for using puzzle-piece imagery is to evoke negative associations, our results suggest the organization's use of puzzle-piece imagery is apt. However, if the organization's intention is to evoke positive associations, our results suggest that puzzle-piece imagery should probably be avoided”
If you want to learn more about the puzzle piece symbol and why it’s seen so negatively so much then there’s plenty links below... I’m not going to go on and on and on and tell you the whole history and ins and outs because you can do that yourself with the links below.
Or just search “why don’t autistic people like the puzzle piece symbol” or “why is the puzzle piece symbol for autism harmful“
We appreciate people listening to the Autistic community and respecting us by making this change. By doing so you help us feel heard, accepted and respected. Thankyou 🥰🥲
https://www.learnfromautistics.com/the-problem-with-the-autism-puzzle-piece/?fbclid=IwAR3KRrs3vzfuCgn-neKRtxnA8teePO_yUtLrSvjnRLj-79UuYqnkSZAVl7w
https://neuroclastic.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Heres-Why-Most-Autistic-People-Hate-the-Puzzle-Piece-Symbol.pdf
https://autisticmama.com/saying-goodbye-to-the-puzzle-piece/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28823194/
https://intheloopaboutneurodiversity.wordpress.com/2019/03/20/the-ableist-history-of-the-puzzle-piece-symbol-for-autism/
https://www.altogetherautism.org.nz/autism-no-puzzle-nothing-wrong-with-us/
https://ko-fi.com/post/Its-time-to-leave-the-puzzle-piece-symbol-in-the-Z8Z56GM7H
