Autism Awareness Day

Many autistic adults take the neurodiversity perspective; they seek acceptance and inclusion rather than a cure and prefer the symbolism of diversity and ...

Amplifying autistic culture and centering autistic experience is the mark of true allyship. Leaders need to understand the origins of these mixed and changing messages, then take steps to celebrate and include the autistic community meaningfully. Leaders need to understand the origins of these mixed and changing messages, then take steps to celebrate and include the autistic community meaningfully. But the neurodiversity movement encouraged many autistic people to advocate for themselves and adopt “nothing about us without us” as a motto. Many autistic adults take the neurodiversity perspective; they seek acceptance and inclusion rather than a cure and prefer the symbolism of diversity and completeness (the infinity sign). Some have a very intense emotional reaction to traditional autism awareness symbolism; it reminds them of feeling like “a missing piece,” a “tragedy” that “destroyed” their parents’ dreams. Leaders need to understand the origins of these mixed and changing messages, then take steps to celebrate and include the autistic community meaningfully. However, the cure and “combat” messaging that presented autism as the enemy aiming to destroy families dominated autism conversations in the mainstream media in that decade. The confusion over the language and symbolism reflects the philosophical divide between the medical perspective on autism that has primarily dominated the awareness conversation in the mainstream and the neurodiversity perspective. A golden or multicolored infinity symbol are the most prominent and the least contested. This messaging left many autistic youths, now grown, with mixed feelings about the dominant societal portrayal of autism — and their very place in that society. The confusion over the language and symbolism reflects the philosophical divide between the medical perspective on autism that has primarily dominated the awareness conversation in the mainstream and the neurodiversity perspective. The confusion over the language and symbolism reflects the philosophical divide between the medical perspective on autism that has primarily dominated the awareness conversation in the mainstream and the neurodiversity perspective.