Norwalk marks Autism Awareness Month
NORWALK - Autistic students from Norwalk La Mirada Unified School District helped the Norwalk city council proclaim April as Autism Awareness Month during their city hall meeting last week.
However, the council and school district was unaware that they used symbols that reinforced decades of harmful stereotypes and false information about autism.
Vice Mayor Ana Valencia, a K-12 educator, recognized blue as “the color of autism.” She also compared autistic students to puzzle pieces saying, “Sometimes the puzzle pieces don’t fit together. We are here as a Village to help put those together.”
Organizations such as Autism Speaks have used the puzzle piece symbol in controversial ads where autism is displayed as a disease that needs a cure. Other individuals use the puzzle piece to view autistic people as “puzzling” or a “mysterious illness.”
The puzzle piece was created by Gerald Gasson, a board member for the National Autistic Society in 1963, according to The Art of Autism. They believed that autistic people suffered from a “puzzling” condition, so they created a logo of a puzzle piece with a weeping child, leading people to believe autism is a disease.
Autism Speaks also use blue in their “#lightitupblue” campaign, but using blue reinforces the stereotype that autism is more likely to occur in boys. The misinformation is causing autistic women to remain undiagnosed until adulthood, according to the Child Mind Institute.
Erica Aguilar, the mother of autistic NLMUSD student Elias Salazar, was unaware of why the puzzle piece is harmful to autistic people.
“The first thing that pops up when researching autism is Autism Speaks,” said Aguilar. “I had no idea what the puzzle piece meant until it was explained to me. I apologize for wearing it today.”
Aguilar wants to educate the community about better ways to represent autism and accommodate for others on the spectrum, starting by changing the puzzle piece to something more positive.
“Autism starts with ‘au,’ which is also the symbol for gold on the periodic table. So autistics have begun to use the gold infinity symbol to represent it,” said Aguilar.
She advocated for including autistic children in neurotypical classrooms to help them navigate the world outside school.
“If my son works in a department store, he’s not going to be in a special ed department. He will be with his community of peers,” said Aguilar. “It’s really important for me to educate the community. So they don’t have that stigma or fear of autism.”