Autism symbol

thats ok, WMaLu110 ,,, its just  i have seen many new people arrive here  who are quite vulnerable and they suddenly get accused of something,  and leave because they weren't expecting it.  These are the very people I am determined to keep as they have a right to be here.  

they have passed this information to me via PM just before they left

Ooh i like this one better (than the infinity symbol i’ve seen and refrenced before).

the pastel gives it a more unique look than the million other rainbow symbols i’ve seen, plus, while i love vibrant colours (with in reason) some people dont like looking at such strong stuff, so i think it works better

Hi Peter 

for some reason it won’t open but sure - why not? With enough usage anything can become the dominant reference point. The *** managed to hijack the swastika from multiple non western cultures after all

Hi Adie 

To clarify that was definitely not an attack on anyone rather a clarion call for us to resist this outdated logo. 

unlike you i love bright colours, i think it’s a cute mask.

but nah i meant the actual hidden disability’s organization is selling mask exempt land yards. which one causes issue for the reasons you highlighted (anti-maskers reselling the product) , but also i looked at their clarifications for who is mask exempt and in what circumstances in order to purchase this lanyard, and almost all of those circumstances, save literally 1, would not actually require a lanyard due to the rarity and short duration of the circumstance, or the pre-established laws that everyone would already know.

for example one listed reason is if you are in a private indoor space with only the people you quarantine with..... of course you don't need to wear a lanyard then. so the creation of such a product just reads full of bad intention to me, because the only real purpose is that anti maskers will buy it.

plus i saw a video of a girl with endometriosis get beat up for wearing the lanyard and no mask, and while violence to anyone let alone a teenage girl is never the answer, i don't think she should have been there. How does endometriosis keep you from wearing a mask? The people with endometriosis that i know wear masks...which i know not every person is the same, so i do genuinely wonder because i don't see the correlation between an endocrine system related disorder and a mask that doesn't even effect the respiratory system. If you need to temporarily remove your mask to take some medicine that makes sense...and i dont think anyones gonna shame you for it, especially if you make sure your social distancing when you do,  but also even if someone gives a reason as to why they cant wear a mask that then begs the question as to why they are going outside just riding around on buses and such. If you cant wear a mask because you are disabled, then wouldn’t  you want to not put yourself at risk for a brain damaging, long term health damaging illness?

sorry i guess i went on too long, as I’m so passionate about the topic.

I don't see it as an attack - it's just a strong opinion.    Getting upset on the internet really isn't worth the effort.

Maybe they edited their post in the 4 hours before i saw it, but what I'm reading now at least, i don't personal take any offense to. Then again, maybe i’m reading it wrong so who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.  regardless I don’t think i will be reporting this, but thank you for showing me how to report, should i need it for the future 

Really? I didn't read it that way. Maybe I'm just very dense or thick skinned but it seems to me it was the logo he was criticising not the OP. It didn't strike me as a personal attack. Indeed the OP herself has said she has negative feelings towards some of the organisations that use that symbol. I'm not weighing in on whether I think symbols are or can be offensive or not ... but expressing that opinion doesn't seem like an attack.

WMaLu110 to report someone,,,  that makes u feel unconfortable click on More > Report as abusive and the moderators will pick it up

that's a nasty attack for no reason on a newbie to this forumn

so how do you feel about the rainbow infinity as an alternative? commons.wikimedia.org/.../File:Pastel_Neurodiversity_Symbol.png

The puzzle piece is deeply offensive to me as it is many others.

As I understand it the history of this is that it was concocted by NTs and used to label autistics. And not just any NTs but NT led orgs who were active in institutionalisation, abuse and experimental medication to 'cure' autism during the 20th century. As a result the puzzle piece icon is fundamentally tainted.

There are parallels you could say with this and other icons and offensive caricatures applied to subjugated groups with protected characteristics (the use of yellow stars and golliwogs come to mind). 

In my view, given the ways in which autistic people are still mis-understood and disenfranchised our community should be actively resisting this logo and adopt a new one.

The official site is https://hiddendisabilitiesstore.com/ - there's other companies out there "borrowing" the schemes logo/brand to turn it into something it isn't. So much so, there's a warning on every page on their site not to buy from ebay or Amazon.

Sunflower is all about making stores and services aware that someone may been extra help - officially they've no line on masks and to my knowledge their products make no reference to a facemask exemption. 

They actually have a facemask product 

https://hiddendisabilitiesstore.com/blog/post/the-hidden-disabilities-sunflower-face-mask-is-here

Definitely not my style - I prefer plain colours 

Oh so before autism speaks? Hmm thats interesting, every time i hear people discuss it that organization is brought up.  if thats the case that they aren’t fundamentally connected then....the puzzle piece seem to be the only recognizable connection to autism for many Neurotypical people. Yet the reminder of autism speaks with this symbol hurts many autistic people, complex things....idk how i view it anymore. guess my journey for another pin to add to my collection is probably gonna end temporarily while i look for unrelated pins to add. 

Ive never heard of the sunflower hidden disablilities campaign before but the first thing that popped up when i searched them was their promoting people going maskless due to their hidden disablility.....so ummm that was interesting lol 

though for your purposes  that shouldn't really matter, wearing a Correlated sunflower Item in and of itself doesnt really indicates ones stance on masks 

i had a relative who died fighting in the 'rainbow' regiment in USA WW1. It was called that because they took all sorts :)  so its been around as a symbol for a while

en.wikipedia.org/.../File:42nd_Infantry_Division_SSI.svg

I thought rainbows had been commandeered by the LGBTQRSTUV-insdustry - I don't don't know if I'm down with that.

The puzzle ribbon was adopted in 1999 as the universal sign of autism awareness. ... The Autism Awareness Ribbon — The puzzle pattern reflects the complexity of the autism spectrum. The different colors and shapes represent the diversity of the people and families living with the condition.

The classic 'missing bit' denoting we're not completely human? 

the jigsaw piece is probably the most dominant symbol for autism.  There are 2 versions blue and  a rainbow coloured jigsaw.

i have a co-worker, she got a tattoo of the jigsaw on her wrist when she was diagnosed. She tried to get me to get one like hers but no way 

the jigsaw piece symbol was created by the american autism society around 1999

www.autism-society.org/.../

i wish more autistic people did wear a symbol so we can help each other when out and about