Anyone seen an autism card in the wild?

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I just seen one of these cards for the first time today. Not sure how I feel about the design of it being so colourful and in your face.mightbhave been better being a bit more subtle.

Those first two images were posted as a joke.  Here are more serious images:
 

I've never even heard of them before

These "I Am Autistic" cards are so much better than those "I have autism" cards I once came upon while browsing on Ebay, which said things that basically made autistic people sound creepy and terrible.

But even if I had one of these cards, I doubt most people are going to think I'm really on the autism spectrum. They might even think I'm using it as an excuse for "inappropriate behavior".

Over my dead body would I ever even possess one of those let alone carry it around with me.

I do need an ADHD card though, so that people don't take it personally when I seem impatient or angry in my body language and facial expressions (because I am feeling that way in crowded public spaces). But I don't think the world quite understands ADHD yet, and so still in the "ADHD is for naughty little boys" stage.

I don't think people knowing you have adhd would do you any favours. People seem to know I have it as soon as I meet them and I hate them knowing it.

As for an autistic card, well I don't think I need one.

I've carried one with me for a long time, so I guess I do. Sometimes I can't verbally interact with others due to the autism, but I can still show a card. I've used it before and it made things quite a bit easier for everyone.

I never had.

All I've seen was a metal bracelet -- worn by one of my SPED teacher's students, a level 2 mainly not very verbal autistic teen and the sort who obviously cannot mask and cannot be left alone -- faintly engraved with his name, emergency contact number and that he has autism.

No cards. At least nothing specifically about any ND related diagnosis.

Cards from where I came from are either for seniors or persons with disabilities in general.
And the disabilities shown are by categories of their disabilities instead of specific diagnosis.

So if one sees my PWD card, it shows that I have a 'psychosocial disability'.
Which could mean anything -- it could be ADHD, ASD, or something else entirely.
So if one asks what it mean specifically, like any invisible disabilities, I can choose to withheld what label it is that I 'have'.

And that intellectual and/or learning disability is a separate category from that.


And I've seen a lot of PWD IDs.
Mainly at the on PWD/Seniors check out lanes or queues.
Have I've seen adults, or even kids/teens, alone, independently, holding and owning cards that says 'Psychosocial' or 'Learning disability' or even 'Intellectual disability'?

Very rarely compared to other categories I've caught and read -- including in PWD specific meetings. I might be the only one who does.

The rest are being held by parents/caretakers and are owned by their (mainly not-present) children.


Anyways, holding a PWD card in general means "huwag mo nang patulan".

Translation to English is messy.
It could mean 'don't mess with them and if you do, it means you're a sissy' or 'don't bother with their weirdness/waste your time arguing/fighting them unless you're crazy yourself' out of pity or 'ignore their nonsense if you're levelheaded enough' something like that in context.

And entirely something else in a less socially ideal settings -- your typical painted target, or it may also mean 'a bit privileged'.


I don't need that particular AS card myself.
What I already have suits me more.

In my opinion, card itself fits in higher end cities where people had an idea what autism even is and where their network sucks to not recognize someone.
And quite out of place. Possibly irrelevant anywhere else that isn't.

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I can't remember whether I've seen any autism cards before, but I saw someone at the gym a while back who had a lanyard dangling out of his pocket which said 'I Have Autism' on it.

I do wonder how many people use these sorts of cards but just keep then in a wallet (so they aren't visible). There are so many people/businesses making these cards that they must be somewhat popular. Our local police force does autism and learning disability cards, and have recently introduced a mental health card. Handy if you feel the need to incriminate yourself .

I don't think one of those cards would help me in most situations.

However, I think I might get one of those Autism sunflower lanyards for use in airports. They are relatively subtle and supposed to be recognised mainly by airport staff only. Airports can be stressful and confusing, especially ones I've never been to before. One time a member of staff was extremely rude and shouting at me when he told me to queue in a certain place, and I said "but the sign says to stand here for long haul flights?"

He was like "I DON'T CARE WHAT THE SIGN SAYS!! ! STAND OVER THERE!! !"

It was so humiliating and a bit upsetting to be spoken to like that in public. No normal person would have stood for that, and they would have taken his name and made a complaint about him. If I'd had a lanyard that whole thing may not have happened in that way. Or if it did he would have got in deep s**t. I wouldn't want to get anyone fired but staff should not speak to customers in that way, no matter how stressed they may be, or how 'difficult' the customer may appear to be, for whatever reason.

I think the whole thing happened due to my Autism. I probably had some 'inflexibilty of thought' and maybe social skills deficits etc. (On a side note, there has been so many examples of incidents like this that I have recalled since my diagnosis, and now suddenly I know why these things turned out the way they did. In a very large proportion of cases these unpleasant incidents have been due to my Autism.)

Here's what the lanyards look like. At least they don't have Autism in massive letters which would attract all sorts of unwanted attention. I might get one to try next time I'm travelling abroad. And see if they improve or worsen the airport experience for me.