A Universal Symbol for Asperger's

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You're right, we're not the Illuminati. But I think it is an easy way for us to recognize each other. It's a lot easier than walking up to someone that you suspect has Asperger's and saying: "Hi, I have Asperger's and I think you do to, let's be friends!" Only to find out that they don't and embarrass yourself. Or to not approach them at all because you don't know and don't want to say anything.

Thanks Dan Brown, now the Iconography specialty is aaaalways related to Illuminati...

Yeah, but I think the only symbol that was part of an underground at some point in history is gay rights. Everything else is "above ground".

(edited to correct typo)

Last edited by emimeni on 28 Oct 2012, 8:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Us neurodeviants are not the Illuminati, neither are we the lumpenprole. People outside of the horde have always needed to develop code to ensure their preservation, without a common 'language' they are sure to be quickly exterminated.


These guys I would consider to be the 'us' of 1930s North America. A true hobo is not focused on a handout, having a preference to exchange labor or resources for their living essentials, and by definition does not fit into the round hole of the society that surrounds them. Click the bold for a quick rundown of what I'm illustrating.

Brief Summary of the Hobo Code

I think my concern is that we'll never become part of the horde (AKA society) if we develop our own code.

Why do we need one? I've seen the puzzle piece, and an infinity symbol with color spectrum inside of it (usually with "Cure ignorance, not autism" underneath), both as symbols for autism. The puzzle piece tends to be for pro-cure folks, the infinity symbol for anti-cure.

I refuse to participate if I'm limited to only 5 facts.

Interesting read, thanks. While I wouldn't agree with the comparison between aspies and hobos I think the sign language is a relevant example and a good precedent. Hobos would notice them, others would not. Yes, some "non-hobos" became aware of the hobo signs and faked them for their own amusement, but it sounds like it was still very useful overall.

The reason I don't like the aspie/hobo comparison is emimeni's concern: perpetuating our own reputation as outcasts. Now, maybe some of us do feel like outcasts, but I don't think it would be helpful for the symbol to imply that - and it doesn't have to. Ideally, all it would mean is "I think I'm an aspie and I'm OK with some people knowing this, at least other aspies".

I drew the hobo comparison from the almost entirely adult single male population (sound familiar?) that were driven economically as well as socially to roam from place to place. As far as being outcasts, I wouldn't speculate that any of us or them voluntarily choose to be shunned, however I refuse to be someone's "pet" at the same time, as flying the puzzle-piece flag would represent to me.

The status quo says that for me to be allowed to join in their reindeer games I have to deny or hide very carefully that when I hear certain sounds it's as if someone walked up to me and began pounding on my head with a hammer or that I can't magically tell what someone expects me to do or say (even though I'm supposed to) and that when people speak to me, their words might
be idle but I hear them as truth, as just a few examples. God forbid I slip up and cover my ears in public. So, I should just loop my life back to 2002 when I started trying to own the right toys, talk the right talk, do the right drugs, drink the right cocktails, etc., trying to eliminate and reinvent endlessly to get the exact same results of rejection every time, that no acute hyperskill I possess was enough to override?

Society can have its positives, but should we have to comply with all of its demands with no guaranteed fair rate of return? The surest way to please nobody is to please everybody. I'm not saying the public has to "km@" but it's about time they started doing some of the bending for a change.

If someone would have explained life on the spectrum to me when I was 18 and clued me in that there were others that shared this I would have been in a better position to help myself and others without becoming heartbroken in the process.

i'd like to put forward as a suitable symbol, an artistically rendered quartet of letters on a ring or bracelet or monogram or such, of:

TRLT [which stands for The Road Less Travelled]

How about Aspire?

If we color all the letters the same except for the R, it would be easy for those who know what Aspie is to get the code.

It can be shown in a lot of ways as well. Even a homemade bracelet would work.

Hi Zodai.

It's a great idea, but the problem is that it is stuck to the English Language, which makes it not universal.

It won't work for someone who is French, Japanese, Italian, speaking Arabic or Hebrew, Georgian, Russian, etc..

As for the others prior, if you don't like it or don't want to use any symbol, don't use it. This is all about those who are open to this concept. No one is forcing you to do anything.

You see, I'm pretty confident that if you speak to a thousand of us, you could have a thousand different ideas. So, instead of just looking at random other ideas, which will get us running in circles forever, I'm asking more along the lines of "This seems pretty do-able. Will this work?"

I went through every one out there before, and few have as many positives as this does, and as few negatives.

So tell me if this could work for you, and if so, could we start looking to pass the word that this is the new thing?

It has to start somewhere.

"TRLT" is an interesting idea, but it's a) not specific to AS and b) could be googled to find its meaning. "Aspire" with the "r" highlighted is even less subtle in that sense. That was one of the reasons I liked the asterisk: you can't google it! Well, I suppose if you got it in electronic format you could determine the Unicode character code, find that the name of the character is "teardrop-spoked asterisk" and then google that, but hey... if someone does that, they probably belong here anyway!

A tattoo that would make sense, too. Because you can't get rid of AS. And it is quite neutral, so you won't feel stupid.
Not that I would put tattoos on myself, but I find this one quite useful

A very good idea. You could even start in a chat like this : ✻?
Which would mean like somebody on the spectrum around here?

Or many other purposes

EDIT; Just tried to figure out how you could make this sign easily accessible. Add-ons and stuff. ALTGR related stuff.

Thought this could be important to make its use much easier. Have seen some microsoft tools with which you can generate own keyboard layouts (e.g. your own plus some extra symbols accessible via ALTGR key)
For Ubuntu I found this

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=188761

Anybody that wants to work a little into this?

ORLY?

I hate to say this but if we don't want this getting out too much, well, currently we are second on the google search list if someone types 'teardrop shaped asterisk."

I still really like the idea and would love to use it.