Here’s the harmful history of the puzzle piece symbol and why autistic people don’t use it anymore ♾
Schnumn (you can find her across many platforms!) and I worked together on an informative comic for the Autistic Comic Takeover!
[ID: A multi-panel comic done in a cartoon style with black lineart.
Panel 1: Our narrator, a white person with glasses, brown hair, and a purple t-shirt, gestures to a cascade of blue puzzle pieces in the top right corner of the panel. A couple cartoon faces below look where they are pointing. In a speech bubble, they say,
“The symbol that is most commonly associated with autism is the puzzle piece symbol. It is used widely by allistics* who want to show support for autistic people.”
*non-autistics
Panel 2: The narrator uses a pointer to point to a sign showing the blue puzzle piece with a red x over it.
“Some autistic people identify with the puzzle piece, but most of us don’t.
We’ve been advocating against its use for a long time now.”
Panel 3: The narrator stands in a white panel, looking to the side, with their hands in front of their chest. In a speech bubble, they say:
“There are many reasons why…”
Around them are yellow bubbles that read:
“It is an infantalising symbol.”
“It has been used to stigmatize us for decades; implying that we are a puzzle to be solved and/or that we have missing pieces.”
“It was created for us by allistics and we didn’t get a choice.”
“…There is also a long, ableist history behind it. ”
Panel 4: A red ribbon header reads :“Ableist History Timeline.” Below are yellow bubbles connected together to form a timeline, each year with its own bubble. Between the bubbles are variations of the puzzle piece symbol: a half-green, half-black puzzle piece with a stylized crying child in the middle, a ribbon with red, yellow, green and blue puzzle pieces, and the blue puzzle piece. The narrator is in the bottom left corner, looking at the timeline.
1963: “The puzzle piece symbol was created by Gerald Gasson of the National Autistic Society. The N. A. S. believed that autistic people suffered from a ‘puzzling condition’ and so they invented a symbol for autism - a weeping child in the shape of a puzzle piece.”
1999: “The autism society of America creates the puzzle piece ribbon to raise awareness for autism. Unfortunately, they sought to cure autism through ‘early intervention’ and applied behavioural analysis (aba) - which can be accurately summed up as conversion therapy for autistics.”
2022: “The organization Autism Speaks continues to use the puzzle piece to this day on their website and beyond. To them, it represents the 'search for answers’ that will lead to a grater understanding of autistic people.
“Unfortunately, the answers they’re searching for are treatments and cures. but autism does not need to be 'cured’ or 'treated’.
"Many of the harmful beliefs about autism that continue to this day have been perpetuated by Autism Speaks, and they make it harder for autistics to be heard.”
Panel 5: The narrator looks with a distressed expression at a round cartoon person holding a poster with the blue puzzle piece on it.
“Information regarding the puzzle piece symbol and why we don’t use it is all widely available online and regularly discussed in autism communities both offline and online.
"When we see allies continue to use the puzzle piece symbol, even though we want to assume they mean well when they use it, it gives us the impression that they aren’t listening to us. As a result, we don’t feel safe around them.”
Panels 6 & 7: “Many autistic people have been advocating for the use of the symbols we chose for ourselves.”
Panel 6 shows a rainbow infinity symbol (sideways figure-eight).
“The Rainbow Infinity Symbol. This was created to combat the puzzle piece by "Aspies for Freedom,"who are a controversial group by today’s standers of autism acceptance. The two autistic women who made the symbol currently disagree as to whether it represents all neurodiversity or only autism.”
Panel 7 shows the gold infinity symbol, with the narrator looking up at it from the bottom right corner. In a speech bubble, they say:
“Gold is 'Au’ in the periodic table so we use the gold infinity for autism.”
Panel 8: The narrator stands in the middle of the panel, hands on hips. Their eyes are close and they are smiling as they talk. There is a little star next to their head.
Below them and behind them, and rainbow-colored crowd is smiling and holding up posters with the infinity symbol on them.
“When you use the symbols that we’ve chosen for ourselves, we feel that our voices are being heard and that we’re behing seen as our own people with agency.
"We are people, not puzzles; and there should be nothing about us without us!”
