Some of you may have noticed over the past few days that I have updated all of the branding for The Aspie Dialogues with these images:
and
Ever since I renamed the site, you pretty much had to figure a logo redesign had to have been coming for a while, right? But why with the infinity symbol, and why with the rainbow colors? Don’t I have a girlfriend? Didn’t I just reference her in the blog a couple weeks ago?
Moving backwards, here:
Yes, yes, and the last two are a bit of a story…
You see, given my strong opinions on the Susan G. Komen of Autism Autism Speaks, I decided to finally take the plunge and join the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network.
I am also gearing up to get my first tattoo, which will be something ASD related. Knowing that Autism Speaks has effectively hijacked the color, blue, I was curious to know if ASAN had an official color. Well…
As you can see from their logo, they seem to favor rainbow colors, but that’s not my only source.
On this Wikipedia article (bear with me, here), located here, I discovered that many self-advocates frown upon the puzzle-piece iconography as harmful to the ASD community and prefer a rainbow infinity symbol instead.
My research also led me to this page, located here, that displays this image, representing the Autistic Rights Movement:
So, now knowing all of this, I set out to redesign my logo… and my subsequent tattoo.
I have a different opinion on the puzzle piece, actually. Instead of viewing it as “puzzling” or as a “problem to be solved,” I see it like this:
Why do we put puzzles together? Is it to solve a problem? Or is it to see the whole picture? Every one of us in the ASD community is a piece of the Autistic Rights Movement. That Movement cannot be seen for its entirety without all of us. Each Spectrumite, every caregiver, relative, friend, loved one, advocate, etc. We are all pieces of that picture that makes up the Autistic Rights Movement.
Therefore, the puzzle piece stays in my new logo. Not to mention, most people will instantly equate it with ASD, so that’s a plus, not having to explain that part.
The infinity symbol in it’s heart represents the Autism Rights Movement. It is a token of my perpetual pledge to keep fighting the good fight for all of us. It’s at the very heart of what I do and why I run this site, after all.
The rainbow signifies that ASD is a spectrum. Also, it is the official color scheme of the Autistic Rights Movement.
With that in mind, I designed the new media assets you see plastered all over the social media accounts associated with The Aspie Dialogues.
So, in short:
May you find peace with yourself, within yourself! …And don’t feel afraid to advocate for yourselves! You’re worth every ounce of effort, and it may improve the lives of those who come after you.
Rock on, Spectrumites!