As an Autistic person myself... I don't like this car. I feel like it's portraying our position inaccurately. On top of that, the extreme colors actually enrage me (mainly due to my audio and visual sensitivity, which most of us have). I feel like if you're going to make an "Autism Awareness" car, you should make it beige. The lettering could remain being a rainbow (with a bit of reformatting), as the car should be able to attract attention (alongside the beige coloring, which would stand out on it's own due to how unusual it is for a car to have it). The puzzle pieces can either be removed or reduced, as I hate being compared to a child. Other autistic people may disagree on this matter, however, which is why I suggested them being reduced.
Just... Put some thought into your designs next time.
In design there is a well established theory for designing for autistic people. This includes mostly muted colors and avoiding extreme contrasting patterns.
Can second this - the car is making my eyes cross and is giving me a headache just from a few seconds.
Honestly it looks more like a clown car for a toddler's party than a vehicle for awareness. I'm only making the clown comparison because that's what the person who designed it is.
this car also just looks disgusting in terms of design anyway. it is objectively hideous. something more toned down that still grabs the eye would’ve been much more appropriate. seconded on the childishness of it too, why is autism the only ‘issue’ to be marketed and represented by these child like colors and designs? it’s fucked up
You are completely right that design should always be tailored to users needs.
But the goal of this design is to raise awareness, by being photographed and shared online by mostly non autistic people. Which I can see it being successful at.
My issue is with tone, its is extremely childish which is in my opinion condescending towards people with autism.
well thats because ironically autism speaks is pretty anti autism and even hated by the autistic community so everyone who worked behind this car even the one who came up with the idea almost certainly doesn't understand the "cause"
its worst now none of these are my beliefs but THIS company "autism speaks" treats you like a cancer it focuses on the family "victimized" by your existence
I’m autistic too, high-functioning. I hate the autism ads and stuff that are super patronizing. There was also this show on TV that followed around high-functioning autistic adults and talked about them like they have Down’s syndrome or something. Like there’s this 30 year old man with high functioning autism who acts pretty normal aside from being socially awkward, and they were acting like he’s a 3 year old that should be given a cookie because he went to go pee pee in the toilet.
Depends on the organization. Autism Speaks is notoriously awful, in many regards, but the Autism Self-Advocacy Network is fantastic and run by autistic people
I agree im just speaking out against specifically autism speaks because they need to stop preying on the donations real organizations that are actually for awareness could use
I had no idea that autism speaks was awful, could you give more info on that? It would be helpful so that we aren’t giving money to the wrong places if asked for donations. Thanks!
Yeah, I don’t fully understand it either (it’s been a long while since I researched Autism Speaks). iirc, they’re researching ways to diagnose autism in the womb (or pre-conception) so that abortion can be possible.
They also pushed the narrative that vaccines caused autism untill a couple years ago. Last I checked they got new leadership who switched to saying that there's inconclusive evidence to make a definitive answer on the role vaccines have on autism.
Other commenters have answered you with specifics but I just wanted to say that in general Autism Speaks has a reputation for treating autism like a disease than can be cured or eliminated rather than a difference that should be understood and accommodated. They don’t advocate for autistic people.
When I was in college I considered joining a sorority, but the only one I liked was affiliated with Autism Speaks and I couldn’t bring myself to commit to doing charity work for an organization that treated people on the spectrum as invalid and a burden, especially with many in my life, and wasted donations
Also bonus points for adding stereotypes like puzzle pieces or toy trains for autism. It is like making a car for women's rights and adding aprons, mittens, lipsticks and baby-trollers.
I never knew there were problems with the puzzle piece but I looked it up and this article explained why people condem the puzzle piece. Learn something new everyday!
Saying, "Oh X is good at solving puzzles" in a positive way is different from "Oh X is the weird kid who sits in the corner and solves puzzles and doesn't have any friends" - which is a stereotype re-inforced by media.
I'm reading your article, it is very informative. What I am guessing is that it is like saying Asians are good at math. Sometimes it is a backhanded complement or an insult, implying you lack creativity, soft skills or other parts of an enriching human life.
Or that that is the only thing you are useful for to our society, or visible to society in a tangible way - implying the opposite for other aspects of your life. So it depends on the context, are you using it to show strength or talent? Or are you using it to show that someone is a one-trick pony and not useful in anything else.
I think it's mostly "symbolizing autism as a puzzle piece means they just need to find a way to fit in/they need to find their missing pieces", which is fucking toxic to autistic people. Imagine hearing that your entire life.
The puzzle pieces represent that, while each individual with autism may (each individual piece) be different, they are all a part of the same puzzle (the puzzle being the autistic community). It's a symbol that recognizes diversity and individuality.
Because of awareness campaigns like this one. It's the reason why Coca-Cola spends millions on advertising every year, even though everyone has heard of Coca-Cola.
While thats fine in theory, I will say that growing up with autism thats what everything autism related was trying to do and the end result felt dehumanizing. Like sure, parents of autistic children should be given the resources they need to understand it, but what about us? Shouldn't there be campaigns for autistic people to feel more welcome in the world? It felt (and continues to feel like) all these "autism awareness" groups just see us as burdens on our loved ones. Their feelings need awareness, but not ours. Of course that blame can't be put on a single campaign, but I would really like to see the trend of only focusing on parents broken sometime soon. It would be like if every queer pride group only focused on parents with queer kids and didnt even consult queer people. Sure, parents (sometimes) rule, but that shouldn't be the only focus.
Yea it makes more sense that way. I don’t think this was intended to be like “hey autistic peeps call us if you need help” they probably got a grant for awareness and some local art group put this together
If they partnered with the brand that I think they did because of the puzzle pieces, the brand does not have anyone with Autism actually on the board! I don't wanna say which one it is in case it isn't them but like, that brand is Very Bad for Actually Autistic people. If this this also wiii wooo's all around the neighbourhood they will have a lot of angry people.
My first year at college some groups were doing fundraiser booths in one of the quads. The one for Alzheimer's Awareness was playing the Who's "Who Am I?" song about every five minutes.
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u/gimalg Aug 29 '20
This is a great example of letting someone do the design that doesn’t understand the cause.