#autism puzzle piece

[autisticdreamdrop]

this user is reclaiming the puzzle peice

[justanotherstardrop]

this user us reclaiming the puzzle peice

[ashleyishere24]

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Hi everyone,

So I was thinking about the puzzle piece and how it represented autism for a while.

To the neurotypical people out there: what is this supposed to mean? I know most are being positive (in the past), but what does it symbolize in their eyes? That if we try and work hard enough, that we’ll “fit” in with the rest of society? To change ourselves into something we aren’t?

I shouldn’t and wouldn’t change who I am and what I do just to makes others around me more comfortable. That’s a lot like what this you mean.

Please stop using the puzzle piece. To some of us, it sends a bad message that says we need to change our ways to fit in.

Use the infinity symbol instead. It represents everyone, and I think personally that it’s a message that says everyone is different in an infinitely number of ways. Not that we have to fit in with society

♾️

[3v3ry0n3z-fav3-al13n-x3]

ik i said i'm on a break but

i just found this while browsing on the hot topic website--

for context: the autism awarness puzzle piece is a symbol originally created by the organisation Autism Speaks, which treats autistic ppl like shit. their goal is to, quote, ''ultimately eradicate autism for the sake of future generations.'' they also compared autism with deadly diseases. its also getting criticized for the fact that they put the focus of the work not on autistic ppl, but on parents and their hurdles. they treat autism purely deficiently.

also the puzzle piece clearly implies that autistic ppl have ''a missing piece''

both is just.. yikes..

[hopskipandarump]

happy autism awareness month i think that futaba should be allowed to bully goro actually (yes those are real shirts)

[demonic-shadowlucifer]

hey just a small psa: stop telling autistic folks what symbols they should and shouldn't use.

if an autistic individual wants to use the infinity symbol, let them. if an autistic individual wants to reclaim the puzzle piece, let them. hell, if an autistic individual wants to use both, LET THEM. thank you, and happy autism acceptance month.

[spooksforsammy]

Is not problem like puzzle piece.

Is not problem like infinity symbol.

Why is the first line seen as a problem to say but the second one isn’t? Why have face hate and harassment because like puzzle piece? Why is problem like multiple symbols, why problem want use both?

Understand the meaning of puzzle piece. Understand Is associated with Autism Speaks, doesn’t mean can’t use. Don’t like autism speaks, don’t think autism needs full cure but don’t think is reason completely remove symbol.

For me, autism is like a missing piece. It does feel like I’m a not a complete person, and something is missing. But I also feel like autism is part of a puzzle and It have a place somewhere. Without it, the picture wouldn’t be fully complete.

The meaning can change to fix someone.

Don’t remove label because isn’t what you want, because some do need and want.

[enbycrip]

All the craft groups I’m on because I like seeing people’s creations seem to be full of people making blue fucking puzzle pieces and talking about cure rhetoric.

Some of them respond well to having full facts about how fucking awful Autism $peaks, ABA and eugenics are when I drag all the trauma, the eugenicist discourse from medics I dealt with during my pregnancies, the terror I feel about how my wee brother could be treated, and why I personally would shy away from anyone wearing a blue puzzle piece for them. Others apparently would rather scream “hater”. I’ve been called a “TikTok autistic” more times than I can count.

When TS Eliot said “April is the cruellest month”, he had no fucking clue.

I’m so tired.

[ametistapp]

Since it's Autism Awareness Month, here's

Why the puzzle piece is offensive to the Autistic Community

[Large text: Why the puzzle piece is offensive to the Autistic Community]

Unfortunately, the most commonly used symbols to represent autism are all puzzle related, like the ones bellow.

These symbols and similar ones are typically used by Autism Organizations that are run by allistic people rather than autistic, Autism Speaks being the best-known example across the internet, but not the only one.

I'm not going to go deep into how bad Autism Speaks is, but just to leave you with the tip of the iceberg, know they used to put out ads that demonized autistic people (and even one in which one of the organization's leaders spoke about wanting to drive herself and her autistic daughter off a bridge).

Autism Speaks, and many others, attempt to "teach" people about autism, without hearing what actually autistic people have to say, and that's their biggest (but not at all only) problem.

Now, stay with me as we dive into history...

The puzzle piece was first used as a symbol for autism in 1963, by UK's National Autism Society, later on being adopted by Autism Speaks, which made it more popular.

Back then, autism awareness campaigns were viewed as being similar to, for example, cancer awareness ones, because autism was seen as an illness, a disease (which it is not).

As I've made clear before, the puzzle piece is heavily associated with organizations that spread misinformation about autism, making it, of course, already a bad symbol to represent us, but there's something I personally feel bothers us a lot more, and that is the symbolism of the puzzle piece.

The puzzle piece represents an idea of "mystery" and — you guessed it — being "puzzled".

And us, autists, don't really appreciate being called confusing.

Not only that, these words were often used to describe autism offensively in the past (and still are). And, on top of that, most times, when you find a puzzle supposed to represent autism, it is incomplete.

Isn't the message clear enough?

We're people, not puzzles that have to be worked out. We're not incomplete and we're not "puzzled".

So

Which symbols can you use for autism awareness?

[Large text: Which symbols can you use for autism awareness?]

The infinity rainbow symbol is common for all neurodivergent people, while the golden infinity is specific for ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder, in case you didn't know the acronym).

The infinity symbol represents the complexity and vastness of neurodivergence and autism.

Autism is less about "severity" and more about different struggles in different topics and areas (though not a lot of people seem to understand that, unfortunately). After all, autism is a spectrum, not a scale.

And if you're interested in why golden is the color of choice for us, that'd be because the periodic symbol for gold is Au, which I think is very clever, haha.

Some people also like to use red or plain yellow, I don't know a lot about that, but I'd recommend you research it.

And since we're on the topic of color, just a warning: in the Autistic Community we kind of avoid using blue to represent us, especially because it is heavily associated with Autism Speaks' "Light It Up Blue" movement.

Blue is seen as a representation of feelings like sadness, as well as being commonly associated with boys (this is important because women and other AFAB are often misdiagnosed and underdiagnosed because many people still think autism is only found in boys, and because many traits are viewed as "normal behavior" in AFAB people).

This isn't to say you can't use blue in the title of your PowerPoint presentation about ASD, it's just a thing we try to avoid.

Well, that should be all.

I decided to make this post because I've seen many people post about which symbols to use for Autism Awareness Month, but no one explaining why.

Thought this could help some poor lost soul understand it, lol

Happy Autism Awareness Month, my beloved Yippies, and a thank you to everyone who stopped to read <3 (heart).

Now I'm gonna go clean my search history and my gallery, just reading "Autism Speaks" gives me the ick.

[arrowheadedbitch]

This bear makes me so sad. Like it's not his fault he's branded with ableist agenda and propaganda stuff, he's just a little guy, he probably doesn't even know

[autisticdreamdrop]

this user is reclaiming the puzzle piece

we had to redo this, as we made the puzzle piece blue. so we chose purple. remember, Autism Speaks made the BLUE puzzle piece, and are not the original creators of the puzzle piece

[justanotherstardrop]

this user is reclaiming the puzzle piece

we had to redo this, as we made the puzzle piece blue. so we chose purple. remember, Autism Speaks made the BLUE puzzle piece, and are not the original creators of the puzzle piece

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

The Problem With Puzzle Pieces

Autisticality

[darken-hollow]

Me (Autistic): I fucking hate puzzles

Mr Puzzles:

Me (still autism): I fucking love puzzles

[pwurrz]

damn. kaveh and alhaitham really are adhd vs autism huh