Since April is Autism Acceptance Month, I want to make sure something is clear
In the Disability Pride Flag I, and other Tumblr users, designed together:
[Image description: The Disability Pride Flag: A charcoal grey flag with a diagonal band from the top left to bottom right corner, made up of five parallel stripes in red, gold, pale grey, blue, and green Description ends]
The stripe I chose to represent Autism and related Neurodiversities is the gold one, because the atomic symbol for gold is Au (It’s a visual pun, hehe).
The blue stripe is meant to represent Depression, Anxiety and related Mental Illnesses. According to Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, our modern idiom of ‘having the blues’, can definitively be traced back to 1756, and the term ‘blue devils,’ which is an overwhelming sense of gloom or despondency (The 18th Century version of our ‘brain weasels’, I guess).
Associating blue with Autism comes from Autism Speaks, which is a eugenicist hate group against autistic people, and is based on the heteronormative, cisgenderist (? is that the word ?), and false idea that autism is only a ‘boy problem.’
I will never associate autism with the color blue. And I ask you to refrain from doing so, as well. If you want to support autistic people this month, avoid Autism Speaks at all costs, and support ASAN: Autistic Self Advocacy Network, instead.