Friends and colleagues often include symbols and acronyms (and symbolic acronyms) within their social media profiles. These letterforms represent shared and self-selected identities.<\/p>\n
None of them \u201cfeel\u201d quite right to me. That\u2019s not a new issue for me, as I have written many times about my ambivalence regarding labels and symbols. (Follow the post tags to search for those discussions.)<\/p>\n
The puzzle piece has never appealed to me. I\u2019d argue neurotypical people are puzzles. See? Puzzle pieces are not good symbols for people. The infinity symbol seems much better, though I don\u2019t understand the connection to autism. I use the symbol because it\u2019s familiar and appears to represent the infinite variation of human experiences. (We could argue human experience is not infinite, since there have been a fixed number of humans. That\u2019s my literal nature arguing with my more literary mode.)<\/p>\n
I understand the use of \u201cAu<\/strong>\u201d to self-identify as \u201cAutistic,\u201d as \u201cAu\u201d is the symbol for gold, and autistic self-advocates have adopted the gold infinity symbol. The history of \u201c\u00c2\u00fb<\/strong>\u201d seems more contested, though I found some sources attribute it to the community \u00c2utistic \u00dbnion<\/strong>, also known as Autistics for Autistics. Since the information is online, verifying any origin story is difficult. (Visit https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AutisticUnion\/<\/a>)<\/p>\n So, Au is both an acronym for the Autistic Union\u00a0and<\/strong><\/em> a reference to \u201cgold\u201d (valuable) instead of the medical blue often associated with autism. A colleague calls this shade the \u201cpity blue\u201d of ribbons and puzzle pieces used to beg for money.<\/p>\n Embracing Au seems reasonable to me. I\u2019m certainly an Autistic who advocates with and for other Autistics and Neurodiverse individuals.<\/p>\n I still see problems with ASD, ADHD,<\/strong> and the trending AuDHD<\/strong> (or AuADHD<\/strong>). An Autistic colleague inquired on social media why I dislike the acronyms. The reason seemed obvious to me, but it wasn\u2019t clear to others.<\/p>\n The final \u201cd\u201d in these acronyms stands for \u201cDisorder,\u201d and I am not a disorder.<\/strong><\/p>\n Autism Spectrum Disorder. Attention Deficit \/Hyperactivity Disorder. Slamming the phrases together gives us Autism Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder? Wow, I get to be a deficit and a disorder. No, thank you.\u00a0<\/em>Why are we, the Neurodiverse who promoted the idea of \u201cdiversity\u201d over a deeply flawed and ableist medical model of autism, willing to use acronyms that embed assumptions of deficit and disorder in our identities?<\/p>\n Autism Spectrum Diversity? Meh. I would prefer returning to\u00a0AS<\/strong>, but not as in the late and not-so-great Hans Asperger. Simply \u201cAutism Spectrum<\/strong>.\u201d I no longer cringe at, \u201cI\u2019m on The<\/em> Spectrum,\u201d though I don\u2019t go out of my way to celebrate the phase. \u201cI am Autistic\u201d works. Let\u2019s use\u00a0Autistic<\/strong> without any additional words.<\/p>\n Likewise, ADD\/ADHD needs to be something less insulting. My attention to sensory inputs is not a deficit; it\u2019s a hyper-awareness of the world around me. You want someone with that extra sensitivity if you\u2019re in a dangerous situation. My hyperactivity lets me focus intensely on problems and tasks. How is that a disorder? Again, in a lot of situations, wouldn\u2019t you rather have someone driven to complete the task?<\/p>\n Attention and Hyperactivity Diversity (AHD)? That doesn\u2019t quite flow well, but I\u2019m okay with AuAHD<\/strong>, I suppose. The \u201cd\u201d could be \u201cdifference,\u201d if you prefer.<\/p>\n Whatever we eventually adopt, it should not be an acronym masking the medical model that suggests we\u2019re somehow less than others or outright out-of-order and broken.\u00a0I am not broken.<\/p>\n I\u2019m a Hyperactive Autistic<\/strong>. HA<\/strong>! (Or is that HAu?)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Friends and colleagues often include symbols and acronyms (and symbolic acronyms) within their social media profiles. These letterforms represent shared and self-selected identities. None of them \u201cfeel\u201d quite right to me. That\u2019s not a new issue for me, as I have written many times about my ambivalence regarding labels and…<\/p>\n