![]() It’s saying I am a puzzle, that I am a “challenge.” Since a puzzle cannot complete itself, the puzzle piece says I am incorrect until someone else finds the proper way to solve me. The puzzle piece isn’t saying that, though. Those differences have created roadblocks in my life but have also helped me get to where I am today. I am different, and quite frankly, I’m proud of my differences. It implies that we are not complete people, that autism is something to be ashamed of because it means we are missing a piece of ourselves. ![]() A puzzle piece by itself inherently means that the puzzle is incomplete. A puzzle piece is part of something unfinished. The second major issue with the puzzle piece is what it insinuates. It creates a world where autism is something to be aware of when a person is age 0 through 17 and then forgotten about once they turn 18. Not all of these flaws can be solely placed on the back of the puzzle piece symbol, but it reinforces them. As he sees it, “We’ve excluded people with autism consistently from conversations about research and provision of services.” Kevin Stoddart is the Director of the Redpath Centre in Toronto, a Mental Health Organization specializing in ASD treatments at all ages. There has been an acknowledgment of this fact by industry professionals. That could be deciding where to dedicate funding, completing research studies on autistic adults to understand their experiences, or simply asking what an autistic adult needs help with to survive the world. AdvertisementĪutistic adults often get excluded from the conversations on how to help them. This is damaging to the philosophy of creating “awareness” because it helps to add to the consistent issue of disregarding the needs, opinions, and lived experiences of autistic adults. Puzzles, by and large, are games designed for children, and the puzzle piece helps create the perception that autism is solely a childhood condition and doesn’t affect adults. The first issue with the puzzle piece and the puzzle ribbon is that it infantilizes autism. Here are some of the reasons why many autistic people believe the puzzle piece is harmful and needs to be replaced. After the research journal Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice elected to remove the puzzle piece as their logo in 2018, Autism Speaks put out a statement that the puzzle piece is important because it represents the search for answers that will lead to greater understanding and acceptance of people on the autism spectrum. This is what those who support the symbol wish to believe - that it is part of a search for answers and that if they find that answer, it will improve the lives of autistic people. The reality, though, is that the symbol damages the discourse around autism while being widely considered offensive to autistic people. ![]() There are a lot of ideological beliefs about the puzzle piece.
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