Summary
There are many different symbols and colours used to represent the autistic community. You may see puzzle pieces, ribbons, circles, and infinity symbols, with the colours blue, gold, red, or the rainbow spectrum. However, do you know what all these mean and how they came to represent autism?
The puzzle piece is perhaps one of the most well-known symbols for Autism. Unfortunately, the story behind this symbol is rooted in ableism, discrimination, and eugenics. It is not a symbol that the whole autistic community supports. In recent times, there has been a shift in how autism is represented and there is a lot of work going into combating damaging myths and beliefs.
An important part of this is the platforming of autistic voices to share their knowledge and lived-experience. It is essential that we actively combat outdated beliefs surrounding autism and remain up to date on the appropriate language and symbology for the community.
If you are looking for a symbol to use when talking about autism, the current most accepted symbol in the autistic community is the rainbow infinity loop for neurodiversity.
However, it is important to remember that individual autistic people may have their own relationships and connections with different words, images, colours, etc. The information I write below isn't to erase individual experiences and preferences. It gives insight and guidance for when talking about the wider communities of autistic people.
I also hope that this blog can be a resource other autistic people could share when asked for context on why some words and images are not trusted by many autistic people. We get asked this a lot.
Importance of Symbology
What is symbology?
Symbology is the study or interpretation of symbols. Throughout our history, human beings have used symbols to:
- create meaning
- classify knowledge
- communicate emotions
- trigger memories
- alert us to danger
- represent concepts, people, events, etc.
Symbols are incredibly powerful tools at both the conscious and unconscious levels of human experience. You are probably familiar with the use of symbols like the heart or smiley faces and how their use can change the tone of a text message, for example.
The use of different colours is also often used in advertising and design as they are associated with different ideas or feelings within a culture. For example, you may associate red with passion or blood and yellow with happiness or danger.
Disability symbols
You may be aware of the International Symbol for Access, even if you don't recognise the name. It's the outline of a wheelchair user on a blue square with a white outline.
- What does the International Symbol for Access make you think about accessibility and the disabled community?
- Do you think it is representative of access needs?
- Would you be surprised to know that in the UK there are estimated to be 11 million disabled people and of this only 1.2 million use a wheelchair? Many wheelchair users also don't need to use their wheelchair all the time (ambulatory wheelchair users)?
The International Symbol for Access is heavily associated with disability and leads to misconceptions around what disability looks like. The implications for this can be seen in how non-wheelchair users often experience discrimination and abuse when using accessible toilets in public.
Overall, the disabled community would like everyone to start using more inclusive symbology to represent disability to help combat myths and discrimination.
We are not a monolith. We are just as diverse as non-disabled people.
Puzzle Pieces and Autism
If you use your internet search engine of choice to look up "autism", you will see many puzzle pieces. The puzzle piece as a symbol for autism dates back to the 1960s and comes from the idea that autism is "puzzling". The symbol is also associated with autism being tragic, that something is missing from autistic people when compared to non-autistic people, and the idea that only children can have autism. In fact, the original puzzle piece symbol even featured a crying child.
The puzzle piece has been used and continues to be used by many organisations and people who have sought to cure and treat autism. However, instead of typing out the history of it's use in this blog, I would like to take the chance to signpost to an autistic blogger! On the word press blog 'In the Loop about Neurodiversity', Cassandra Crosman talks about the ableist history of the puzzle piece symbol for autism.
Long story short: the puzzle piece does not represent the autistic community as a whole.
You may talk to autistic people who do use the puzzle piece, this may be because they don't know the history of the puzzle piece, because it has a different or personal meanings to them, or because they are reclaiming the symbol with a more positive meaning about the interconnections of the autistic community. This is their choice and may be an important part of their personal identity.
The Power of Lived-Experience
If you're interested in historical moments and figures, I would encourage you to look up Jim Sinclair, Kathy Listener, and Donna Williams. Together they founded Autism Network International (ANI) in 1992, an advocacy organisation run by autistic people for autistic people that was firmly anti-cure for autism. The ANI newsletter was published online to professionals and parents of autistic children. This was the very beginning of the autism-rights movement and it platformed autistic voices at the core.
Come the millennium, the movement was growing in strength and in 2005 Autism Pride Day was formed on the 18th June, having drawn inspiration from the gay pride movement. Around this time there were also protests and campaigns against cures for autism and applied behaviour analysis (ABA).
More recently our understanding of autism and other neurodiverse conditions in society has improved, leading to national celebrations (for example: Neurodiversity Celebration Week) and social justice movements that include more than one type of neurodiversity, such as The Neurodiversity Rights Movement. The movement aims to end the discrimination neurodivergent people face in society.
The internet has empowered autistic people and our allies to raise their voices and unite against stigma, ableism, and discrimination. Many autistic people are active in online communities and many use social media platforms to share their knowledge and experiences. Through the sharing of lived experiences, autistic people not only educate and help professionals to provide better support, or combat stigma in the general public, they are also able to connect with each other, explore their passions, and create positive spaces.
Where autism was once believed to be a tragic burden on children, we are now able to hear first-hand about autistic-joy at all ages and how we can all help dismantle the barriers in society that lead to poor outcomes for autistic people.
Colours for Autism Acceptance and Awareness
Rainbow or Colour Spectrum
The rainbow, or colour spectrum, is used to represent the diversity of autism as it is a broad and varied spectrum of experiences.
Blue
Blue is the branding colour for Autism Speaks. Therefore, it was the colour they chose for their Autism Awareness campaign: 'Light it up Blue'. There is a lot of controversy in the autistic community surrounding the research that Autism Speaks historically funded and up until 2016 Autism Speaks still had the term 'cure' in their research goals for autism. As a result, blue is not a colour that the autistic community as a whole align with, instead seeing it as something that represents eugenics.
Gold
On the periodic table of elements, Gold is represented as 'Au', the same as the first two letters of autism.
In response to the passivity of awareness campaigns and the symbology used for Autism Awareness Day (blue puzzle piece), the Light It Up Gold movement was established for Autism Acceptance.
Red
In direct response to Autism Speaks campaign to Light It Up Blue for Autism Awareness, the 'Red Instead' campaign was launched for Autism Acceptance. This campaign seeks to highlight the importance of lived-experience voices and co-production.
Autistic people in Surrey have told us that they prefer identity-first language when describing themselves as autistic. To find out more, we recommend reading an ATLAS, Surrey Youth Voice: Person-first versus identity-first language in additional needs and disabilities support
Autistic and living in Surrey, UK? Get in touch to get involved!
Here more from autistic people in our other Autistic Voices blogs and on the Surrey Youth Voice blog page.