Day 24: Symbols

I know of two prominent symbols for autism awareness: the long-standing but recently disputed blue puzzle piece, and the new, emerging infinity rainbow for neurodiversity.

There is an interesting history about the puzzle piece written here. I did not know it has been around since 1963! The other symbol, and neurodiversity, are explained here.

The puzzle piece has come under fire, mainly from actually autistic people, of late. They feel that it puts the wrong emphasis on them and their condition as being a missing piece of their lives, or they feel it represents or is promoted by organizations, like Autism Speaks, that they disagree with to some extent. The new symbol, the infinity sign, is gaining some traction but the term neurodiversity and the symbol are not yet widely known or accepted. Also, the people who do not like the puzzle piece sometimes disdain the "light it up blue" campaign as well for the same reasons. They suggest gold because the periodic table symbol for gold is Au. Other suggest red. What I find interesting is that if you add gold salts to molten glass, you get red glass in the end!

Nonprofits like Specialisterne have symbols for their programs. Specialisterne chooses the Dandelion because of the misconception of the worth of the plant. Is it a weed to be eliminated or a resilient plant that feeds bees, tastes good on salads, and can grow anywhere?