In recent years, there has been a growing movement within the autistic community to retire the puzzle piece as a symbol for autism advocacy. Instead, advocates have proposed alternative symbols like the infinity symbol, which represents the infinite diversity and complexity of the autistic community.

I recently saw a TikTok video of an autistic person mocking the notion that autism is a disability, they were addressing a lot of autistic traits that allistic people and neurotypical people view as being a deficit, but that autistic people see as our strengths, and I was conflicted about the messaging of the video. I responded saying “Yes to not viewing everything autistics do differently as a deficit, no to the further stigmatization of disability in the autistic community. Autism is a disability, and that’s okay.”