"Librarians fired after they displayed an autism sign"

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Dumbest thing ever is that the firers mistook it for another sign. Oppressors always turn out to be stupid sh!ts. People can really hate, eh?

You didn't provide a link. Here are relevant news stories I dug up:

- Kansas town axed librarians after confusing autism symbol for Pride. They're fighting back by Jason Alatidd, Topeka Capital-Journal, Wed, September 13, 2023.
- Kansas Librarians Say They Were Fired Over Rainbow Autism Display by AJ McDougall, Daily Beast, Sep. 14, 2023

It raises an interesting point I’ve thought of for a while but not mentioned yet.

In their desire to replace the puzzle piece logo advocates have created something that resembles and can easily be confused with the gay pride flag by the rest of society.

Many straight autistic people don’t want to be mis labelled as gay or be associated with rainbow colours for this reason.

As if life is not hard enough being straight autistic straight autistic men / women will now have to deal with both homophobia and those who make false judgements and assumptions about their sexuality.

In a perfect world none of this should matter but we all know reality is different.

I think the assembled puzzle pattern is distinctive and widely recognized.

Though I suppose a small number of folk might think it means you love puzzles.

I agree that rainbows just dont make it as an emblem. Not because there is anything wrong with them per se but because so many causes have already latched onto rainbows. Back in the day Jesse Jackson ran for POTUS and strived for a "rainbow coalition" (folks of differing skin colors and other differences). The LBGTQ use rainbow emblems , and do so to show a "spectrum" in inter gender orientations. Autism exists on a "spectrum" so autistics latch onto the image for that reason too, but its already been taken.

So we autistics should pick something else. So the puzzle piece is an alternative.

Welcome to my world. I just tell them to f**k off. That's online, where I make an effort to make sure my response is delivered (as many sites have filters for certain words), by checking it incognito. If it was IRL (although unlikely, as I haven't been out in years and when I used to go out before it was rare) I'd probably feel violent... but, never happened, as I don't talk to many people, and it's not like I can see random messages as online. Point is, don't avoid this if you dislike bigotry, confront it.

I'd like to suggest this photo of Canadian Autism advocate and diagnosed AuDHD'er Paige Layle as our new poster child / Autism symbol.


Warning! Image will be offensive to some...

This reminds me of the start of the pandemic. In the UK, there was some confusion because the symbol used to show support for NHS workers was an arched rainbow. A simple distinction, right? Apparently not. Some people didn't understand the difference between a pride flag (straight lines) and the NHS support symbol (an arched rainbow). I saw pride flags for sale referred to as 'NHS Support Flags'. I saw pride flags in windows with 'NHS' written in pen over the flag. One time I saw one that said 'THIS IS NOT A PRIDE FLAG'. Which was pretty amusing. There were actual flags with the arched rainbow and messages underneath such as 'NHS Heroes' or 'Thank you NHS' and yet people were still choosing to buy the Pride flag. Dear general public, why?

Frankly the fact we didn't use the NHS signature blue and white to make a symbol is baffling.

That’s because the LGBT pride movement and flag is international and the pride flag (even though it’s been altered to accommodate trans ) will overshadow any duel use elsewhere like autism pride.

Let’s just say the rainbow is owned by LGBT and advocates should find another symbol that doesn’t put any further stress on autistic people.

Not that I had anything against the puzzle symbol in the first place I thought it was quite good.

Considering that most autistic people are also LGBTQIA+, I don't see an issue with the association.

Reminds me of a Jackie Gleeson routine from back in the day. Now it takes some explaining. Americans, and their many baby boomer grade school kids were under the spell of the "Davey Crocket Show" on TV in the Fifties. As the Fifties became the Sixties Davy Crocket mania faded, but then America was suddenly taken by storm by the Beatles. Gleeson quipped that an entrepreneur friend of his didnt fret when the Davey Crocket fad faded because he "just took all of his surplus raccoon skin caps, pulled off the tails, dyed them brown, and sold them as Beatles wigs" and got a laugh from the 1965 audience.

Kinda like how local merchants in your country unload one rainbow symbol by claiming that its the other symbol (which ever the local populous is more into supporting).

Who told you THAT!

Only a minority of autistics are LBGTQ, though its a bigger proportion than NTs. I suppose that its possible that that tacking on that A the way you did (for asexuals) tips the scale into making it the majority. But you will hafta both show me the stats and show me the reason include asexuals with the rest.

That’s true, I don’t think adding A for A sexual because that person is too disabled is the same as A sexual for other reasons like choice for example.

It’s very disingenuous claiming someone with profound autism with a mind of a 3 year old should be identified with a pride flag because they are A sexual.

What next those in a long term coma lol

Nothing against LGBT people but there are valid reasons why straight people don’t want to be thought of as gay.

Actually, I think it may have more to do with transgender men. Though there is a conversation to be had about asexuality and autism. Granted, trans men can be asexual, but that's not the focus here.

I remember when I used to be a part of a GSA at University and I was in a conversation with two bisexual trans men. One talked about his autism diagnosis and the other shrugged then went on to joke about how it was a rite of passage for most trans guys (he was also autistic).

Of course, that's anecdotal and not a large enough sample size to be scientific. However, the connection between autism and gender has been highly discussed. There are some bold claims out there regarding how many transgender individuals are also autistic. I could link some studies if you'd like, but I'd like to do some further reading to see how many of the studies have been successfully replicated.

Granted, I am going off track from the main subject here. Sometimes I think about this topic because there's a singer I like to listen to who happens to be a trans guy who has adhd and autism. I also see a lot of recommended videos and articles about this topic.

You'll have to excuse the possibly disjointed nature of this post, I wrote this at 3am because my sleep schedule is currently a bit of a mess.

The US has gotten so insanely homophobic lately. And even worse, it's poisoning Canada, too.
Although I'm not surprised this happened in a place like Kansas.

The rainbow in my lifetime has had quite a reversal, in the 1980s a common edition of the bible aimed at Children and people who are not native english speakers but want to read it in English was the "Good News Bible". The book was bound in a colourful cover for children. On the front was a picture of Noah giving thanks after the flood.

Behind him was a big rainbow.

Maybe give those people who are a bit overheated about rainbows a copy of that edition of the Good News Bible to read, it might be interesting to see their reaction. Would they can that book ?