Autistic Pride Day 2016

Today is the 12th annual Autistic Pride Day, celebrated June 18th by Autistics around the world. I created this rainbow infinity symbol out of 140 receipts, hanging above a window in my bedroom, that I pick up at work all the time, in honor of the logo of the creators of APD, the UK-based group Aspies for Freedom (Aspie-slang term for person with Asperger syndrome). This is the first Autistic Pride Day that I have celebrated at home alone, rather than in Leadville, Colorado like the last two years, and working from 1-9:30, but that does not make this day any less special to me, which is why I made this piece. I would also like to wish a happy Autistic Pride Day (what is left of it) to my fellow autistics and their families and service providers in Warrensburg, Missouri, the town of my alma matter-understanding how difficult it is with lack of services and ignorance in rural areas for Autistics, particularly women. Know you are never alone and your fellow Autistics are out there ready to embrace you. And also a happy Autistic Pride Day to Johnson County Community College's thriving autistic community, who, being a part of I feel really shaped me into who I am today. Walk with pride.

 

Autistic Pride Day 2015 from Leadville, Colorado

Out in the woods where my mom and stepdad bought a vacation home in Colorado may not seem like a happening place for June 18’s Autistic Pride Day created by the former autistic rights organization Aspies for Freedom (which has since disbanded and reformed into the ASDCommunity and the Autism Friends Network, abandoning the term “Aspie”-referring to Asperger syndrome-in an attempt to be more inclusive), but when you are in a wooden house with no entertainment within walking distance you find a way to make it work.  I have walked along abandoned train tracks finding many large smooth stones perfect for drawing the symbols my autistic kin have created, in response to the autism puzzle piece, which we have felt is no more empowering than labeling us as child schizophrenics or children of refrigerator mothers.  In the first picture is the symbols created by others, and the second one, some of my own.  The third and fourth are my new Facebook profile pictures and cover photos respectively.

                First I might mention this is only the second time I celebrated it in my life, and have made a resolution each year to come up with a prompt from other autistic’s to write a post based on.  Last year’s was from the page Thoughts from a Female Aspie, which had a post saying, “So this cure of yours that’s in the works, Exactly which parts of me would it remove? My Memory?  My Gift?  My Quirks?  My Personality?  My Thought Process?  My Lifestyle?  I don’t want to be cured of Aspergers at that price.”  This year however, I got behind in finding a prompt, went with what I had already and choose “I’m not a puzzle.  I’m a person.”  Like the oldest one in the book.

             There are two rainbow infinities, the symbol of the former Aspies for Freedom, and one against a winged heart, created by autism’s very own Kelly Green.  The blue and white infinity was created by Janet Sebilius and used by the Metis in Canada.  The heart itself was just a generic symbol first generated around the time Autism Acceptance Month was created in response to the alarmist Autism Awareness Month.  There are pink and purple people embracing each other, used by Britain’s the National Autistic Society, as well as an orange and green coil and jump, from Autscape UK.  There is a pie chart, created by autistic Andrew I. Lerner, interestingly enough making a peace sign (as if to say the pieces fit in peace), then a butterfly with a transparent left wing, created by the autism organization, the Hidden Wings Foundation.  Also an orange spark from the Celebrate Autism Foundation, a blue ribbon with rainbow stars created by autistic CarolAnn Acorn.  The one that looks like a mismatch of rainbow colors, the rainbow scribbles, was created by James McCue to represent “beautiful chaos.”  There is also a white tree with rainbow colors reflected in the water, like my profile picture with me meditating under it like the Buddha under the Bodhi tree, which was created by Stephanie Tihanyi.  The snowflake was created by JoeyMama, representing how all autistics are unique, and the rainbow moebius ring was created by Oddizms.  There is also a horse symbol, which I have no idea who created or what it has to do with autism, but just know some autistics have benefited from equestrian interaction and think this symbol was probably just a joke among us. 

                I know, there are so many symbols, partly as I think each represents the uniqueness of different autistic communities, and as there are so many ways we have responded to the puzzle piece, which I have felt has become merely a socially acceptable way of calling someone the R-word.  I didn’t even include various autistic representations against it because I felt like showing symbols that did not make reference to that logo.  Anyway, I’ve created a few of my own, such as the porcupine, representing autistics ability to defend themselves even if they as a community are smaller, and eventually conceived it for the community I started at the University of Central Missouri.  Also, kind of as a secondary logo, I created the kaleidoscope, representing the diversity of the autistic community, and the fluidity, as opposed to fixedness of our abilities.  There is a well, which I created with inspiration from a quote from my granddad about some self-promoting autism awareness campaigns, which are “a mile wide and an inch deep,” whereas a well provides water, which is essential to live.  Also, in line with that way of thinking is a lone bison drinking from water with the rest of its herd in the distance, a commentary on autistic’s so-called “loner” nature.  There is a yellow, green, and red triskele, those colors being used for color-coded badges in Autistic Self-Advocacy Network and Autism Network International meetings representing either being open to talking, only wanting to talk when one initiates the conversation, and not wanting to talk at all, representing how these three moods alternate among us individuals with time.  I have a similar design using rainbow colors, giving a unique take on autistic spinning.  There is a lotus, representing psychologist Dr. Laurent Mottron’s “Six Traits of Aspie Perfection” (Logical, Intuitive, Creative, Original, Direct, Resilient) by which I don’t agree with this separatist “Aspie” term being used to rate autistics, but a mere commentary on how that was the first time in history a person’s autism was seen as anything other than a burden.  I have a key, representing the key to unlocking autistic’s hidden potential and the potential of our community as a whole.  Two symbols going along the same line are a sun and moon symbol and a sun dial, representing our unique sense of time.  My two favorites are a tree branch with a fruit at the end (representing our ability to take risks to achieve success), and, to represent the beauty of our unique way of seeing and perceiving things, a squirrel climbing down a tree, with its tail and the shadow of its tail making a heart, while the sunset, in fact with its green ground, makes a rainbow.  I think having all these unique symbols is good, and I encourage my fellow autistic to create their own (as long as they aren’t puzzle pieces or crying children), because I believe local autistic communities and their own needs are important, and a common dream, rather than symbols, can unite us.  I have had great success with these symbols, even groups suggesting to sell necklaces with one such as the kaleidoscope to raise money with some interest for myself, which is the least bit important to me, but I won’t say no to it altogether.  But be warned, that if I do not like one particular aspect of a group, whether it’s its ethical, operational, or commercial aspects, I will not let it use these symbols if I had a choice, even if I made 99% interest.  As for everyone here, even if you are not autistic or know someone who is, Autistic Pride Day is for everyone, as there are millions who enrich our world today with this condition, from supposedly autistic Thomas Jefferson and Stanley Kubrick to modern openly autistic Daryl Hannah and Ladyhawke Sparrow.  I know this post is a lot to grasp, so thank you for keeping up with it, and Happy Autistic Pride Day.

 

Autistic Pride Day 2014: Autistic: Lifestyles, Quirks, Thought Processes, Memories, Personalities, and Gifts Part One

June 18 is Autistic Pride Day. The name pretty much says it all, and for this day, I thought I would share with you all why I am proud to be autistic.

                I got this idea from a post from the Facebook page Thoughts from a Female Aspie.  It said:

                “So this cure of yours that’s in the works

                Exactly which parts of me would it remove?

             

                My Memory?                                     My Gift?

                My Quirks?                                         My Personality?

                My Thought Process?                       My Lifestyle

                I don’t want to be cured of Aspergers at that price.

                Basically, you can never know where one person’s autism begins and the rest of them end.  For one to be cured of his or her autism, one would have to lose part or all of their lifestyle, quirks, interests, memories, personalities, gifts, and more. What kind of message are we sending to autistic people, and society as a whole, when we try to integrate autistic people by ridding them of their differences? If people can accept me as the individual I am, what difference should it make that I have autism, and for that I reason, I thought for this occasion I would share stories each year about why my lifestyle, quirks, interests, memory, personality, and gifts are important to me, and why I am here to stay on this earth, and thus is my autism. 

Lifestyle

                Every day, the first thing I do after I take my medication, before I brush my teeth, shower, and eat breakfast, is to do a meditation session that usually only takes me about ten minutes but is very powerful. I start by saying three positive statements about my day or my life in general, followed by taking refuge in the Three Jewels of Buddhism-the Buddha (teacher), the Dharma (teachings), and the Sangha (the community of followers. I then remind myself of the Five Buddhist Precepts I intend to follow (do not kill, do not steal, do not speak falsehoods, do not commit sexual perverse behaviors, do not compromise your performance with intoxicating substances). After a myriad of chants and mantras to guard my mind against obsessive thoughts and bring good things into my life, I dedicate whatever merit I have accrued from my practice to all beings in their pursuit of happiness. This meditation gives me comfort against all my day’s stresses, whether being stuck in traffic, late for work, swamped for exams, or the death of a loved one. I wouldn’t want anyone to take that away from me.

Quirks

                I am a pretty wannabee die-hard environmentalist and I hate to see recyclable can and bottles in trash cans where they will be unutilized and take up space for hundreds of thousands of years until they decay. Counting the plastic bottle caps and aluminum tabs I have collected for crafts projects, I can see that I have recycled over 3,000 plastic bottles and 2,500 cans (which I’ve counted). Surprisingly, people are often very complimentary and grateful when I do this and have given me positive comments several times. They don’t seem to want it to go, and neither do I.

Thought Process

                Suffering the segregated education and discrimination that people with autism can be very damaging to one’s self-confidence, but after I found the right school for me, I came up with a way to make that better that works for me: I do the things I wish others would have been there to do for me. In addition to starting two student organizations for students with autism and writing this blog, I regularly keep a blog of my stories of living on my own in college with a close circle of friends, relationships, and working at a job. After I finish school, I hope to use what I wrote in my blog to write a book about my college experience. My hope is to show what a person with autism can do if given the right educational support in order to send a message to the public and legislators about what people with autism can do if they are shown the right way. Naturally there are people who abuse or mistreat me, I know the problem is with them, not me, and that they cannot appreciate the joys-friends, family, food, music-the way I do, and that is why they act the way they do. That is how I help promote my self-esteem.

 Memory

                My granddad says that I have a unique ability to remember names. During junior college I started a mutual aid/social networking student group for individuals with autism. I had the ability to remember twenty people’s names at a time, and always got the e-mail out to them about our upcoming meetings. Today that organization has at least eighty members since when I last heard. 

Personality

                I love to use my spare time to developing new skills and helping others. When I’m not playing my flute, writing poetry, or doing crafts projects, I love to help my mom rid her garden of weeds and acorn trees. My mom has even paid me to do that for her, and two years ago I got paid to do that for my neighbor across the street who wanted to sell her home. I’d say I have things pretty lucky for who I am.

Gifts

                My granddad has always complimented my natural creativity, whether in music, art, or writing. For this section, I thought I’d share some art projects I’ve completed made exclusively from old trash and found objects.

A wallet made out of Kool Aid packs

 

A coaster made from old receipts

 

 



A Zen garden fashioned out of an old Altoids tin

 

A handbag made from chips bag, which I gave a friend of mine to give his girlfriend for their one-month anniversary (she left him though)

…

                Well, is this something you would spend millions of dollars trying to cure, instead of spending considerably less money giving the educational and medical services to help develop and flourish? These principles do not just go for me, but for all my autistic brothers and sisters out there, who, is you’re reading this I want to know this so you can stand up for, appreciate, pride yourself in, give to the world, and not trade it for anything else in the world that doesn’t require you to sacrifice it.