Autistic equivalent of a white cane

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I've been thinking recently how useful it would be if there were a device out there which simultaneously helped aspies cope with part of their condition, and clearly alerted those nearby of our autism, like a blind person's white cane. Obviously this would only be helpful for those who didn't mind being "outed" as autistic, but I'd like to think it would increase awareness of our condition, and understanding of our behaviour. I'm curious, what do you imagine such a device being, or looking like? Perhaps something as simple as noise-blocking headphones or sunglasses with "autism" printed on them, or a specific and uniquely coloured stim toy only used by aspies.

No thank you, I don't need branded. It's barely 70 years since WWII, I still remember the lesson.

I heard that they tried something similar in the workplace with the Meyers-Briggs personality test.
Employees had to wear color-coded ID badges that let people know their personality type ...
allegedly, people didn't like being labeled because they feared prejudicial treatment.
Like if they already had "too many" INTJs, that's who would get laid off first,
or they wouldn't hire new ones.

check out my avatar of Arthur outfit. I think every aspie should dress like him. I would think that would be the perfect white cane for an aspie. wouldn't you.

it's too much labeling and autism identity for me, I see no need for it.

We had to post ours on our cube walls somewhere visible. They looked like a 4-bar chart & although management claimed it wasn't a personality test, I'd *studied* psych tests in school both from the stats and psych sides. It was clearly based on the M-B, slightly modified and I'm guessing with far lower reliability.

The idea was that someone else could immediately see your strong and weak points and adjust their interaction styles accordingly to better facilitate efficient communication. At least that's what the Very Expensive Consultant said. Of course, that apparently assumes everyone visiting your cubicle is a qualified, trained psychologist & not an accountant, manager, shipping clerk or programmer. Still, it didn't take long before everyone in IT had slightly um...*modified* charts on display thanks to a pair of pranksters. Mine showed every bar at 0.1 (out of 10) and the accompanying text made me out to be a zombie in all but name.

I'll just wear my T-shirt that says,

<----- I'm with Neurotypical

(which I ordered a few days ago!)

In some circumstances your idea really can be useful. Enough so that I wish the Borg Autism Speaks didn't suck up all public recognition of autism with their near-ubiquitous puzzle piece symbol.

Well, You could wear autism related t-shirts. That be cool. Or like a neologicism of a T-shirt that say I'm shiny!

Yes, a subset of Aspies are identifiable by dress code. But the code will mostly only be read as 'weird' or 'dangerous'.

If you are lucky, people will leave you alone, which would be one aspect of a white cane function. If you are unlucky, or in the wrong environment, it can be a really bad idea, as others in this thread have pointed out.

Just wear a Wrong Planet shirt.

The only thing is not everybody would need or use it (whatever it may be the universal symbol would be), not all of the public would know what it means.
Like not all blind people use a white cane, some have a dog, others have a helper person.

I sometimes wear shirts with autism-related slogans on them.

Probably the best thing for this would be head phones.

Although this thread's convinced me that until autistics are guaranteed dignified treatment, any obvious identification will be a bad idea.

You probably have a point there. I don't know if it's true, or just my perception, but I feel like we're even more marginalized than other disabled groups a lot of the time.

I've noticed a huge difference in how people treat me in real life, vs. online (where they can't see me). Online, people seem to form a much higher assessment of my functioning capability, because I have decent written language skill. In real life, people instantly see that I'm shy, timid, don't know how to dress, have trouble speaking, and I come across as spacey and confused.

I guess if you want to publicly alert people that you have special needs, just dress like an awkward misfit, and keep your head down, eyes on the ground - aside from brief, furtive glances at people when absolutely necessary. Stick to quiet, indistinct, muttering speech, so they have to ask you to repeat everything you say. Walk strangely, fidget nonstop, move your lips when you're thinking to yourself, with a perpetually confused look on your face, and act like you wish you could be invisible. Works for me. o.0

You have a point, Ashariel!