on the colors that represent autism
Honestly, I'm a bit sad that for the foreseeable future, the color blue will be associated with Autism Speaks, their "light it up blue" campaign, and their harmful messaging.
Because I like blue. I like the sky and celestial motifs. I think constellations would make a fitting symbol for autism, since every autistic person has a different constellation of traits.
I appreciate the meaning behind the Red Instead campaign, but red is an intense color. In large amounts, it can feel overpowering. Plus, it's already the awareness color for many heart conditions, and for HIV. Using it to represent autism in addition to these conditions might be confusing to people who aren't in the know. It might also be too US-specific, since Red Instead originated to oppose a US-based organization. If we use a red-adjacent color, perhaps a red-violet similar to hex #a3234c would be more distinctive and more sensory-friendly?
Some people use gold to represent autism, because the atomic symbol for gold is Au. But in large quantities, gold feels a bit too ostentatious for my liking, and it's already the awareness color for childhood cancer.
If it were up to me to choose a color for autism acceptance, maybe I'd choose periwinkle. It's distinctive from the awareness colors for other conditions. It's soft and whimsical... and, fun fact, it's also the name of both an evergreen plant and a sea snail. Yes, it's blue-adjacent... but it's also purple-adjacent, and purple was the favorite color of Jim Sinclair, who wrote the classic neurodiversity essay "Don't Mourn for Us".
Besides, Autism Speaks won't be around forever, even if it often seems that way. Why should one ableist, way-too-powerful organization get to ruin the color blue?