Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone, I’m interested in everyone’s thoughts and opinions on fonts preferred for those on the autism spectrum. A lot of people relay that Comic Sans is a preference. However, I don’t like comic sans. It has been used for 20 years in schools and for adults and I want to know what autistic individuals in the community think about comic sans. And explanations why it is perceived that comic sans font is preferable to let’s say arial or times Roman. I notice the Autistic Society website does not use comic sans. Which I’m glad about. Any thoughts, feeling and expressions welcome. Thanks everybody.
How about if people who can easily read any font or don't care about fonts, stop responding to this thread and wondering why people feel so strongly about this topic? Isn't this the National Autistic Society?? Isn't this supoposed to be about acceptance and not making fun of people or questioning them? I envy all of you who have posted about how easy it is for you to read any font or this font or that font. That's great. Just wonderful. I wouldn't change any of that for you. Perhaps you can stay out of the spaces and conversations that talk about the difficulties you clearly don't have though. And leave that space for those of us who do struggle and feel strongly about it because of those struggles.For this autistic person, any serif font is the worst. All those squiggles that one user said they loved out of nostalgia for the times pens and cursive were used and talked about how skillful people were then... like wth is that comment even doing here in this conversation? Absolutely unnecessary to have said (written) in this space.Those squiggles make it hard to read for many. I can't read most physical books because that's the standard for publishing industries and has been for centuries. Centuries of being excluded from the space of physical books. So thanks for that experience, or rather non-experience I guess. As an academic, I was ecstatic with the latest APA edition and their updated and accessible font guide! Yaasss! That will eventualyl trickle outside academia, like all things do and I expect the publishing industry's standards will then change as well. Good riddance.There are specific fonts more accessible and less infantilized than Comic Sans for neurodivergent folks today.In my post-sec work experience so far, all of them are sans serif. That seems to be a key component of neuroaccessibilty. Spacing between letters is also important. And weight. Either weight at the bottom of the character, or weight in the first few letters.Hope that feedback is useful!And I hope people who don't care about fonts or don't struggle with fonts, stay out of these conversations next time. You're being unhelpful and in some cases, ableist and just plain mean. Stay out.
Reported this post. Uncalled for and serves no purpose other than to cause upset here.