Let’s clear some things up!
This is the rainbow infinity symbol. It’s the symbol for autism, and autism alone, as it was created for AUTISTIC Pride Day!
This is the rainbow butterfly! It’s intended to be an ADHD symbol. It was made by an allistic ADHDer, purely out of spite for autistic people who stated the rainbow infinity symbol was theirs. It’s not just that the creator is anti-autistic; it’s that the design was purposefully created to be similar to the rainbow infinity symbol, making it so that the anti-autistic bias is a key part of its design.
This is the black butterfly! It is also an ADHD symbol. Except this one wasn’t made solely to spite autistic people.
The black butterfly is still somewhat similar to the autistic symbol, but that’s a-okay! ADHD and autism are similar! It makes sense that the symbols would be similar. The difference lies in if it was made similar from a place of malice, or a place of desired solidarity. And the black butterfly is free from any malicious intentions towards autistic people (not just in its creator, but also in its design).
Please take this information into consideration while using these symbols!
— an autistic ADHDer 🩷
I wanted to do some research into the butterfly symbols origins, as I was curious. It seems like both the black butterfly and the rainbow one were created by the *same* person?
A bit about the ADHD neurodiversity butterfly symbol.
The accepted neurodiversity symbol is a rainbow infinity symbol This symbol is, however, most strongly associated with people with Autism Spectrum Disorder. As someone with ADHD I was looking for something to represent me and positive attitudes to ADHD, decided to combine this with the symbolism of a butterfly and designed the image you see at the top. The ADHD neurodiversity butterfly keeps the basic figure-of-eight shape, representing neurodiversity as a whole, but with and ADHD-centric butterfly twist. If you like it, there are several versions below in B&W as well as colour, and on both black and white backgrounds. I am releasing these images free of any copyright, and you’re welcome to use them as you wish.
-ADHD GRRL on the creation of the butterfly symbol
Also, it doesn't seem like it was made out of malice- rather the opposite. Not wanting to co-opt something that was representative of the autistic community, but wanting to maintain a link in terms of the design (infinity symbol + rainbow)
The origins of the rainbow infinity are unknown for the most part- however it's existed for a while. I've seen it also used as a symbol for neurodiversity in general, however nowadays I see it mostly used as a symbol for autism specifically.
Sorry for the infodump! I just didn't want misinformation to go around.
It was purposefully made to mimic the infinity sign because she wanted to use the rainbow infinity symbol, but it was “most strongly associated” with autistic people, so she “combined” the autistic symbol (something she has no claim to) with an ADHD symbol. (Which would more suitably make an auDHD symbol.) But she wanted to purposefully incorporate the design of the autistic infinity symbol (the rainbow) into her design, BECAUSE it was so recognizable while ALSO acknowledging that it wasn’t hers to use.
TLDR this isn’t misinformation, the rainbow butterfly’s rainbow coloring was added specifically to mimic the autistic infinity symbol, specifically because the autistic symbol excluded allistic ADHDers.
We have a different interpretation of her motives and that’s fine but don’t call other interpretations of her actions “misinformation”.
Okay, I just simply disagree with your interpretation of that then. I'm glad you know the origins though!
Originally the rainbow infinity symbol was for neurodiversity and the gold infinity symbol was specifically for autism. Which should be a lesson in how very common symbols will always carry more than one meaning.
As stated in my post, “originally the rainbow infinity symbol was for AUTISTIC pride day”, on June 18th, founded by Aspies for Freedom in 2005. To state that it “originally” was for neurodiversity is flat-out misinformation.
Rainbow infinity symbols were being used by queers, mostly bisexuals, on LiveJournal in the early 2000s
Idk if some autism awareness group has copyrighted the symbol now or what, but the symbol didn't come into existence in 2005












