The Autism Flower
The garden she was cultivating was vast. It was a scenic thing, bright colors popping against each vase. She was very proud of it. For years, she’d been treating them with the utmost care: each day at exactly 8:00 in the morning and exactly 19:00 at night she would water them with exactly three sprinkles of water, gently and precisely, as if conducing a science experiment.
But as she’d grown her beautiful collection of plants — each one a different color, shape, and size — she’d noticed they were beginning to wilt. And despite hours of timing and researching and measuring, it seemed that nothing could fix them.
But to the woman’s surprise, her plant’s misfortune wasn’t a lack of information or exactitude, but a direct result of her giving the same treatment to the cactus as she would the calliope.
The calliope withered from being dried out in the sun with little water, while the cactus had been over-watered, causing it to be squishy and discolored.
I believe this is the problem in the way people view Autism. Though all of the pretty flowers might’ve looked the same in the store or on the television shows or even on social media, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. And it definitely doesn’t mean that one should provide the same care to the different flowers.
Each flower has different needs. Some flowers need more sunlight or water, while others would function better in a cool environment with less water. This doesn’t make them any less of a flower.
Likewise, each autistic person has different needs and is uniquely different. This doesn’t make them any less autistic.
More often than not, there isn’t a one size fits all like the terminology we use today suggests.
While an autistic individual may seem “unable to function in society” while in a crowded room with too-bright lights, they may seem perfectly functioning in a quiet one with dimmed lights.
Simple terms such as “high functioning” and “low functioning” are not nearly enough to depict the diversity of the autistic community, let alone capture individual needs or provide a clear idea on how to support the an autistic person.
The woman’s garden would benefit much more if she were presented with a list of the traits and needs of her flowers, rather than just their name — a fact that provides no true sense of how to take care of it so it can flourish, let alone if the flower is even fit for her garden.
Likewise, a teacher would benefit much more if she was informed of her autistic student’s struggles and needs, rather than a simple function label.
Not only are the terms “high functioning” and “low functioning” stunting our ability to provide autistics with the best care possible, but they are actively harming autistic people.
Many “low functioning” autistics aren’t being valued and recognized as legitimate members of society, while “high functioning” autistics struggle to receive the help they need against the people that claim they are not deserving of it.
Challenging the way we look at autism is vital in reducing ignorance and ensuring the best support we — as friends, teachers, parents, and members of society — can offer autistics.
Therefore, I’m offering a new perspective on the way we view autism, in the hopes that it can be a tool to support autistic people in the best way possible.
The Autism Flower
Finding the solution, not the problem.
In this diagram, each petal represents a trait. The long petals suggest that the struggle is more significant (and therefore demands more support), and the short petals suggest that the struggle is less significant (and therefore demands less support).
Switching to a need-based system presents the solution, therefore encouraging and increasing the right type of action.
Like in the woman’s garden, each flower is uniquely different.
This diagram represents one autistic person, and that’s what’s beautiful about it.
Each autistic person is their own flower, with petals and traits individual to them.
The traits written on each petal will vary, depending on the autistic traits the person has.
For example, while one autistic person may be overly sensitive to certain sounds and textures, another may be completely apathetic to the same. We can see these differences when looking at a diagram.
These fundamental differences between each flower force us to let go of our idea of what an autistic person should look like because when comparing the flowers, we realize one couldn’t look more different from the other.
Not only does the petal system challenge our beliefs and stereotypes surrounding autism, The Autism Flower recognizes autistic people by their specific struggles and traits.
This aids autistic people in getting the help they actually need, especially if they find it difficult to communicate it themselves. (Unlike the unspecific “high functioning” and “low functioning” terminology we use today.)
How can we put “The Autism Flower” to use in our society?
- School Systems. The root of ignorance surrounding anything is education — or rather the lack of it.
This is because, as humans, we are constantly being shaped by the information we receive from the world — whether it’s an old show we watched, off-handed comments made by our parents in childhood, or even classroom chatter. These seemingly trivial experiences are actively shaping the way we see the world, including our perception of autism.
Implementing “The Autism Flower” in our education system can change the picture of autism painted by our environment while the mind is still developing, making us impressionable and more likely to approach the subject with an open mind.
My hope is that if we catch harmful stereotypes and stigmas about autistic people earlier, we can make creating positive and long-lasting change easier.
2. Raising awareness.
Using “The Autism Flower” when raising awareness and acceptance towards autistic people can help dispel common stigmas as well as demonstrate the diversity of the autism spectrum.
3. Parents of autistic children.
In the beginning, an autism diagnoses may seem scary for parents, especially when fed so many stigmas about autism by society.
“The Autism Flower” will not only help parents understand their autistic children better, but ease their anxieties and — hopefully — remind them that autism is individual and presents differently in every single autistic person.
4. Educators.
In the classroom, the terms “high functioning” and “low functioning” can’t do much to help the communication between a teacher and an autistic student — especially when many teachers are ill-equipped and uneducated on how to best communicate, let alone help, the autistic student in their class.
Having this unique diagram provides easily accessible information about the specific autistic person, allowing the teacher to communicate and aid them in a way that is fitted to them. This can also apply to the workplace.
5. Self acceptance.
Unlike what society often tells us, autism is not an illness. Autistic people are not defined by their disability, or the negative connotations often associated with it.
The Autism Flower — starkly contrasting the message of doom or missed opportunity often associated with the disability — paints autism in a different light.
Instead of something depressing, or something to be fixed, The Autism Flower presents the autistic person as ever-growing and beautiful.
My hope is that this new perspective encourages autistic people to accept their petals — if not embrace them — and encourages our community to grow along with them.
The journey to acceptance is a long one, but I believe that with this change in perspective, we have the power to make the world a more understanding, compassionate, and accepting place for autistic people.
Thank you,
Lyra.
