Autism Acceptence Month - Blog Posts
I am actually autistic, diagnosed with Asperger Syndrom and I dont celebrate Autism acceptance month or know what Red instead means, but I Like this
Every month is autism month for me!
[ID: A comic titled "April is Autism Acceptance Month!"
The narrator, a light skinned person with brown hair, says "You might see some places "lighting it up blue" or sharing puzzle piece imagery this month, but a lot of autistic people prefer to avoid that due to its association with Autism Speaks." Within the speech bubble is a blue puzzle piece with a red cross next to it. The narrator continues, "Autism Speaks sees autism as a disease that needs to be cured and eradicated, which it isn't. So to avoid that, we generally prefer RED instead!" The words "red instead" are shown on the narrator's shirt.
The narrator continues, "or the golden infinity symbol: (it's gold because au is the symbol for gold in the periodic table." There are illustrations of a gold infinity symbol and the periodic table symbol for gold, made to say "autism", next to the text.
Text continues "Not every autistic person celebrates autism acceptance month which is fine! It's optional :)
At the bottom, the narrator wears a red shirt with the gold infinity symbol on it and says "whether you celebrate or not, I hope you have a lovely month." End ID]
Thank you @teatual for the description!
In honor of autism awareness month, here's a full comprehensible list as to why I think Rui is autistic, or at the very least, neurodivergent !!!! - 1, For starters, he was ostracized by his classmates for presumably almost a decade (2nd grade - 1st yr of high school), all because he was "different" and nobody around him could properly understand him. This has resulted in him struggling to form and maintain relationships. As stated in his second focus event, Revival My Dream, when he was a kid, Rui had a hard time conversering with his classmates because he felt as if he couldn't connect with them.
He's interested in more niche things, like robotics,
and he was also interested in things that people normally regard as "scary", such as moths;
After he became fond of shows and theater as well and attempted to include his classmates in one he thought of in an attempt to grow closer to them, his idea ultimately backfired since his classmates thought his way of directing was "dangerous", and this is where the ostracization seemed to start.
(translation by Arvon Oven) Being ostracized and shunned is unfortunately a common thing with people who have autism, and as I mentioned previously, Rui was alone for presumably seven years straight, all because he was regarded as "different". - 2, He has "restricted, obsessive interests" that can be seen as hyperfixations/special interests. Ever since he was a child, Rui's been heavily interested in both robotics/inventing and shows. A hyperfixation is described as, "A complete obsession with or absorption into a particular task. The task can be a hobby, a TV show, a subject of interest, or something else. People who hyperfixate may tune out the world around them and ignore important responsibilities, such as eating or sleeping." Rui's interest in shows specifically can be seen as a hyperfixation, as in the first side story of his Unforeseen Keynotes (or Unexpected Happenings according to the English translation) card, Rui was so engrossed in thinking about the next show they'd be doing, he had completely forgotten that Robo-Nene was due for maintenance, and Nene mentions that this wouldn't be the first time he's forgotten to eat or sleep because of how engrossed he gets in his thoughts while thinking about shows.
Nene also mentions in Wonderlands x Showtime's main story that Rui becomes so absorbed in his shows that he "loses sight of everything else", (In the original Japanese version, she says "When it comes to shows, he isn't able to look at his surroundings, so things never work out".)
and also in KAMIKOU FESTIVAL!, where he mentions that his tendency to put shows "at the center of everything" might be a flaw of his;
(translation by Ren) It's also mentioned in A Once-In-A-Lifetime Pandemonium!? that he'll get so absorbed in his thoughts while thinking of shows, he'll completely forget about his surroundings.
(translation by tsukasa’s #3 fan) - 3, He has texture issues, which is also common with people who have autism. It's been mentioned multiple times throughout the course of the game that he detests vegetables, but more specifically cucumbers and things in the cucurbitaceae family (such as watermelon & pumpkin), because they all share the same texture.
He mentions in an area conversation with Nene that he usually only eats at restaurants he's familiar with (he sticks to routine; another thing common with people who have autism), so eating out has never been an issue to him, and he even refused to eat vegetables when they were quite literally stranded on a deserted island and in a life-threatening situation.
- 4, He info-dumps. A lot.
This one is pretty self-explanatory, I think. - 5, He's overly logical and struggles with his emotions. He's had trouble on multiple occasions understanding his emotions, such as in Full Power! Wonder Halloween! where he unconsciously holds himself back after inadvertently injuring Tsukasa with one of his inventions, but he didn't realize that he was even holding himself back until somebody pointed it out, and he didn't realize that he was holding himself back because he was worried, either. Something similar happens in Heat Up! Kamikou High Cheering Squad! where he unconsciously holds himself back because he feared being shunned again, but once again, he didn't realize the reason for him holding himself back until somebody pointed it out for him. In the first side story of his I Can't Afford to Lose *4 card, Rui comes to the Sekai, hoping to talk to somebody to put his mind at ease. As he runs into Meiko and Luka and they ask him what's wrong because he seemed down, Rui says that "I just wanted to think about production, but my feelings got in the way of thinking". He then says "Feelings really are troublesome. / Sometimes, you have to hold them back with all of your might... It'd be nice if someone other than me could manage these troublesome feelings". (In the English translation, he says "Emotions are so complicated and can be so troublesome at times. / There are even times when one becomes completely overwhelmed by them... If only someone else were able to help put a lid on them.") Lastly, I'd like to mention that in Revival My Dream, after Rui asks his mom if he's different from the people around him, she responds by saying that, yes, he is different, but she also says that she was "just like him" as a child, and seeing how autism is caused mainly by genetics, his mom can very well be autistic too.
Okay, that is all!!! Thank you for listening to me yap :3
Happy autism acceptance month!
Have a drawing of Leo sitting like I do (I like to rock back and forward when watching shows and bite the inside of my mouth)
Alright, I know April’s almost over but as it is still Autism Acceptance Month, I wanted to talk a little about it. Just wanted to share what being autistic is like for me and some of my special interests.
I was diagnosed with ASD and ADHD when I was 8 years old. Back then, I was technically diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome but that was merged into ASD in 2011 so I’ll just refer to it as ASD. Anyway, I didn’t really know what that meant until I was seventeen and actually did some research. Learning that a bunch of my behaviors and certain feelings I had were actually because I was autistic was…. I don’t know, relieving? Things started to make more sense. Before this point, all I knew was that I didn’t understand social cues and I was very specific about what I liked and disliked. It did not help that I was also on ADHD medication that exacerbated the negative parts of autism. Since that day, I’ve learned so much more about myself and I learn new things about autism everyday. I’m not angry or upset that I’m autistic. I was (and still kinda am) mad at the people who didn’t explain it to me properly when I was younger but that’s beside the point. I’ve learned to accept it and I’m a lot happier because of it. I don’t need people to be aware of me. I just need people to accept me.
Okay, that was a lot. Hmm. Anyway, SPECIAL INTERESTS, LET’S GO!!!! 😃
My primary special interests are manga, anime, and video games. And within those special interests are even MORE special interests. For example, some of the manga I have a huge interest in include Bleach, One Piece, Fullmetal Alchemist and Jujutsu Kaisen. There’s a lot more but there are too many list. On the flip side, the anime I like differs slightly. I don’t always like anime adaptations of manga I like. For example, I really don’t care for either the Bleach or One Piece adaptations (Bleach TYBW is the exception). There are certain scenes from each that I really enjoy watching and they both have great soundtracks and great voice acting in both the original Japanese and the english dubs, but weird choices that differ from the source material and huge pacing issues make them hard for me to watch. On the other hand, there are certain adaptations that I prefer to the source material, such as Demon Slayer or Mob Psycho 100. These two in particular take the original material and enhance it greatly. What’s more, there are certain series where I really like both the original manga and the anime (Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen to name a couple). Also, I love original anime, like Space Dandy, Oddtaxi, Gurren Lagaan, Appare Ranman, and Vivy: Flourite Eyes Song. It’s really cool to see original content in a medium that is primarily adaptations.
Starting a new paragraph for video games. This might be my big special interest. RPGs, Metroidvanias, platformers, action games, puzzle games, party games, etc. I really love video games. Favorite series include but are not limited too: Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Kingdom Hearts, Pokémon, and Xenoblade Chronicles. In case you couldn’t tell, I’m a big Nintendo person. If I had to pick a genre, I’d say RPGs are my favorite, whether they are turned based or action oriented. My top three favorite games of all time are Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and Kingdom Hearts II. Favorite Pokémon generation is three though Scarlet is my current favorite game. I could go on about how I love different combat and level up systems in different games, how I love that the sidequests in the Xenoblade games add to the worldbuilding and give them so much depth, how I love watching videos analyzing background lore in games like Hollow Knight or Breath of the Wild or videos going into detail about how dark series like Kirby or Splatoon are, or how even though the story is insanely stupid I adore Kingdom Hearts for how sincere it is. But I feel like this has gone a bit longer than I originally intended.
Anyway, a couple of notes really quick about Autism Acceptance Month and autism in general:
Don’t support Autism Speaks. They are a hate group focused on trying to “cure” autism.
Don’t use the puzzle piece when talking about autism. It is ableist. Use either the gold infinity symbol for autism or the rainbow infinity symbol for neurodiversity.
Vaccinations don’t cause autism. Whoever came up with that can burn in hell.
I think that’s everything. If whoever is reading this is autistic, I hope you had a great Autism Acceptance Month.
Autism Acceptance month :D
sorry about how MESSY it is i did it on my computer, not phone, also credits to nuggts ( @_f.ck.0ff_ on tiktok) as i used their picrew in this
{transcript: Atlas , 14 he/it. Best stim is meowing. favorite autistic characters are Mable Pines from gravity falls and Twyla Boogeyman from monster high. Biggest challenge is being semi-verbal. Biggest talent is that I can identify cat breeds. special interest facts, 1 cats follow humans when they see them as their mom. 2 cats purr on you to heal you, and their purr can heal themself too! what I want allistics to know it i just need support, i am who i am}
Hound V (2024)
Latest dogwoman sculpture. She's smiling. :)
Hounds (2021-2023)
Four digital dogwoman sculptures, made in Blender.
In the spirit of autism acceptance month here’s my takes on the obey me characters and their various nerodivergent headcannons that I have because fuck you /j
These are all personal headcannons so please keep those in mind while reading! Thank you
So! We have the one that I feel is talked about the most, which is Levi having autism. And to me, yeah that makes perfect sense. He has special interests that he holds very close to himself, infodumps about them quite frequently, isn’t the best at social situations and is fully aware of it, and other reasons I can’t think of atm but I’m sure y’all can find them around-
And then we have one I don’t see talked about as often? Or I’m just blind- but I personally headcannon Mammon to have some form of ADHD. Like, if you look at the list of symptoms for ADHD, you’ll see a lot of it really reflects Mammon’s behavior. Impulsive, barely any volume control, can’t really sit still/gets bored easily, shiny crow brain/hj, and has difficulty completing tasks that don’t interest him, doesn’t know when to shut up/talks a lot, etc! I could go on but I’m running on tired so runnin low on the words yknow?
Also! The last one for now that I can think of is Beel and Belphie both having depression but different ways of showing it. Belphie is being tired constantly, no energy for anything, feeling like things aren’t worth the effort etc. Beel is having this hole in your heart that you can’t fill no matter what you do. Obviously that hole is from the events of the celestial war. And for those two I feel that the way they express their depression is kinda what formed their sins? If that makes sense? I dunno it’s kinda weak, especially on Beel but hey who knows! Maybe you’ll be able to find better evidence/word it better.
There’s probably more I could add with the different characters but this is all I got for now and I might update this later when it’s not… nighttime and I need to be trying to sleep hours- though you can’t really tell me that any of the cast are nerotypical, except maaaaybe Solomon and Luke. Maybe
Anyway, headcannons from your local nerodivergent dragon!
Autism is just like, one day you watch something and your brain is just like "yup, I'm going to base my life around this for the foreseeable future"
One of my favorite podcasts of all time… As a behavior analyst/specialist, I found this to be super interesting. Applied behavioral analysis therapy is used typically to help people who have autism spectrum disorders, but have you ever tried to apply it to your own behaviors?
If you’re an authentic person who considers themselves as an empath… you’ll definitely relate to this episode!
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/almost-30/id1148183612?i=1000554072096
Happy autism awareness month to high needs autistic people. People who use AAC or sign language. People who don't communicate at all. Nonverbal and semi verbal autistics. People who got diagnosed early. People with developmental delays. Autistics who also have intellectual disabilities. Autistics who are also physically disabled. You are an important part of this community. I hope April treats you well.
There’s this club at my school that are trying to do an event for autism awareness month, but they have no fucking idea what they’re talking about. Naturally, I had to get involved. I couldn’t just be like “not my monkeys. Not my circus,” cause it is my circus and they’re breaking all my shit. Now, they keep asking me about every single thing. On one hand, I’m happy that they’re taking my input seriously. On the other, it’s not my job to educate you. There’s so many autistic creators; go find them and leave me alone.
Now I’ve been roped into doing a discussion panel for my whole school. I’m happy to be able to educate people, but also I feel like it’s not fair that I have to. I’m frustrated that even people with good intentions do harm.
Back from the dead to reblog my own year-old post.
Wanted to add that if you're autistic and want to reclaim the puzzle piece, that's perfectly fine! But it's good we advise people to stay away from websites and organizations that use it since most of them are still ableist.
Since it's Autism Awareness Month, here's
Why the puzzle piece is offensive to the Autistic Community
[Large text: Why the puzzle piece is offensive to the Autistic Community]
Unfortunately, the most commonly used symbols to represent autism are all puzzle related, like the ones bellow.
These symbols and similar ones are typically used by Autism Organizations that are run by allistic people rather than autistic, Autism Speaks being the best-known example across the internet, but not the only one.
I'm not going to go deep into how bad Autism Speaks is, but just to leave you with the tip of the iceberg, know they used to put out ads that demonized autistic people (and even one in which one of the organization's leaders spoke about wanting to drive herself and her autistic daughter off a bridge).
Autism Speaks, and many others, attempt to "teach" people about autism, without hearing what actually autistic people have to say, and that's their biggest (but not at all only) problem.
Now, stay with me as we dive into history...
The puzzle piece was first used as a symbol for autism in 1963, by UK's National Autism Society, later on being adopted by Autism Speaks, which made it more popular.
Back then, autism awareness campaigns were viewed as being similar to, for example, cancer awareness ones, because autism was seen as an illness, a disease (which it is not).
As I've made clear before, the puzzle piece is heavily associated with organizations that spread misinformation about autism, making it, of course, already a bad symbol to represent us, but there's something I personally feel bothers us a lot more, and that is the symbolism of the puzzle piece.
The puzzle piece represents an idea of "mystery" and — you guessed it — being "puzzled".
And us, autists, don't really appreciate being called confusing.
Not only that, these words were often used to describe autism offensively in the past (and still are). And, on top of that, most times, when you find a puzzle supposed to represent autism, it is incomplete.
Isn't the message clear enough?
We're people, not puzzles that have to be worked out. We're not incomplete and we're not "puzzled".
So
Which symbols can you use for autism awareness?
[Large text: Which symbols can you use for autism awareness?]
The infinity rainbow symbol is common for all neurodivergent people, while the golden infinity is specific for ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder, in case you didn't know the acronym).
The infinity symbol represents the complexity and vastness of neurodivergence and autism.
Autism is less about "severity" and more about different struggles in different topics and areas (though not a lot of people seem to understand that, unfortunately). After all, autism is a spectrum, not a scale.
And if you're interested in why golden is the color of choice for us, that'd be because the periodic symbol for gold is Au, which I think is very clever, haha.
Some people also like to use red or plain yellow, I don't know a lot about that, but I'd recommend you research it.
And since we're on the topic of color, just a warning: in the Autistic Community we kind of avoid using blue to represent us, especially because it is heavily associated with Autism Speaks' "Light It Up Blue" movement.
Blue is seen as a representation of feelings like sadness, as well as being commonly associated with boys (this is important because women and other AFAB are often misdiagnosed and underdiagnosed because many people still think autism is only found in boys, and because many traits are viewed as "normal behavior" in AFAB people).
This isn't to say you can't use blue in the title of your PowerPoint presentation about ASD, it's just a thing we try to avoid.
Well, that should be all.
I decided to make this post because I've seen many people post about which symbols to use for Autism Awareness Month, but no one explaining why.
Thought this could help some poor lost soul understand it, lol
Happy Autism Awareness Month, my beloved Yippies, and a thank you to everyone who stopped to read <3 (heart).
Now I'm gonna go clean my search history and my gallery, just reading "Autism Speaks" gives me the ick.
Since it's Autism Awareness Month, here's
Why the puzzle piece is offensive to the Autistic Community
[Large text: Why the puzzle piece is offensive to the Autistic Community]
Unfortunately, the most commonly used symbols to represent autism are all puzzle related, like the ones bellow.
These symbols and similar ones are typically used by Autism Organizations that are run by allistic people rather than autistic, Autism Speaks being the best-known example across the internet, but not the only one.
I'm not going to go deep into how bad Autism Speaks is, but just to leave you with the tip of the iceberg, know they used to put out ads that demonized autistic people (and even one in which one of the organization's leaders spoke about wanting to drive herself and her autistic daughter off a bridge).
Autism Speaks, and many others, attempt to "teach" people about autism, without hearing what actually autistic people have to say, and that's their biggest (but not at all only) problem.
Now, stay with me as we dive into history...
The puzzle piece was first used as a symbol for autism in 1963, by UK's National Autism Society, later on being adopted by Autism Speaks, which made it more popular.
Back then, autism awareness campaigns were viewed as being similar to, for example, cancer awareness ones, because autism was seen as an illness, a disease (which it is not).
As I've made clear before, the puzzle piece is heavily associated with organizations that spread misinformation about autism, making it, of course, already a bad symbol to represent us, but there's something I personally feel bothers us a lot more, and that is the symbolism of the puzzle piece.
The puzzle piece represents an idea of "mystery" and — you guessed it — being "puzzled".
And us, autists, don't really appreciate being called confusing.
Not only that, these words were often used to describe autism offensively in the past (and still are). And, on top of that, most times, when you find a puzzle supposed to represent autism, it is incomplete.
Isn't the message clear enough?
We're people, not puzzles that have to be worked out. We're not incomplete and we're not "puzzled".
So
Which symbols can you use for autism awareness?
[Large text: Which symbols can you use for autism awareness?]
The infinity rainbow symbol is common for all neurodivergent people, while the golden infinity is specific for ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder, in case you didn't know the acronym).
The infinity symbol represents the complexity and vastness of neurodivergence and autism.
Autism is less about "severity" and more about different struggles in different topics and areas (though not a lot of people seem to understand that, unfortunately). After all, autism is a spectrum, not a scale.
And if you're interested in why golden is the color of choice for us, that'd be because the periodic symbol for gold is Au, which I think is very clever, haha.
Some people also like to use red or plain yellow, I don't know a lot about that, but I'd recommend you research it.
And since we're on the topic of color, just a warning: in the Autistic Community we kind of avoid using blue to represent us, especially because it is heavily associated with Autism Speaks' "Light It Up Blue" movement.
Blue is seen as a representation of feelings like sadness, as well as being commonly associated with boys (this is important because women and other AFAB are often misdiagnosed and underdiagnosed because many people still think autism is only found in boys, and because many traits are viewed as "normal behavior" in AFAB people).
This isn't to say you can't use blue in the title of your PowerPoint presentation about ASD, it's just a thing we try to avoid.
Well, that should be all.
I decided to make this post because I've seen many people post about which symbols to use for Autism Awareness Month, but no one explaining why.
Thought this could help some poor lost soul understand it, lol
Happy Autism Awareness Month, my beloved Yippies, and a thank you to everyone who stopped to read <3 (heart).
Now I'm gonna go clean my search history and my gallery, just reading "Autism Speaks" gives me the ick.
And if you want to "light it up," please do red, not blue. When we see the puzzle piece or "light it up blue," both of which are promoted by anti-autistic hate groups, that tells us you don't actually care about or respect us.
Not gonna argue about this; I'll just block.