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Neurodivergent capitalism is the involvement of capitalism, corporate capitalism, and consumerism in appropriating and profiting from the neurodivergent movement.
April is Autism Awareness month and a blue shirt is found saying Practice Patience – Autism Awareness, and adorned with puzzle pieces all the colours of the rainbow. To someone who isn’t neuro-inclusive, this shirt appears to be in support of autistic people, but it’s a ruse. Blue is the trademark colour of a well-known organization that tries to cure autism, puzzle pieces are the outdated symbol of autism, and I predict that Autism Awareness will become an outdated term in a couple years.
The puzzle piece symbol is rejected largely by the autistic community for multiple reasons, but the main reasons for it are that it promotes the mentality that autistic people are incomplete or are missing puzzle pieces, and it treats autism as a disease that needs to be “treated” or “cured.”
The origin of the puzzle piece symbol came from the National Autistic Society in 1963. It was created by Gerald Gasson, a board member for the National Autistic Society. Gasson and the board believed that autistic people suffered from a “puzzling” condition, so they adopted the logo of a puzzle piece with a weeping child, displaying the notion that autism is a tragedy. This visualization of autism has led to decades of autistic people receiving unwanted treatments and therapies to treat a disease that they don’t have.
For corporations, and even individuals, to use the puzzle piece as a logo to represent autism and autistic people, is a signal to actually autistic people not to trust or support this business. I, and I’m sure other autistic and disabled people, notice what language people and organizations use when they talk about us.
The United Nations General Assembly designated April 2nd as World Autism Awareness Day in 2007, and subsequently, April became Autism Awareness month. The United Nations has observed the day as a means to affirm and promote the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for autistic people on an equal basis with others.
Autism Awareness month ends at 11:59pm on the final day of April, and seemingly so does the support from corporations. This is the same for Pride month with the LGBTQIA2S+ community. The rainbow flags come down the day after pride month ends. Pride month (June in Canada) sees corporations like banks, grocery stores, insurance companies, and a slew of others, don the rainbow to show their support for LGBTQIA2S+ people.
Neuro-capitalism is an interesting thing, as I can go to any random supermarket and buy a stim toy if I needed one, but on the other hand, there is still little to no training of employees, management, staff on autism/adhd/bpd/ocd/tourettes.
Bringing awareness and fundraising for autism and neurodivergency is not a bad thing, but when the awareness revolves around outdated information and perpetuates stigma towards what autism is, then changes are needed.