I spent a weekend working on a new logo for my website. I wanted a simple and economical design that connected my written work with promoting autism awareness. I became less happy with that view the more I worked on the task at hand. People are aware - they just don't understand. Awareness is not remotely enough - it leaves people unmoved and society unchanged.
My philosophical writing works in the gap between the ideal and the real, a gap which also sums up my experience of autism. I am so keenly aware of the things that society at large is missing precisely because they tend to be things missing in my personal experience. To quote the line that Ludwig Wittgenstein borrowed from King Lear: “I will teach you differences.” I will also teach you about disconnection, dislocation, and what the work of reconstruction and restoration requires.
I ended up creating over seventy logos. I ruled out those with black and dark blue backgrounds, for the reason that I wanted people to focus on the text, and text stands out better when it is black on white. I changed the wording from 'Autism Awareness' to 'Autism Acceptance.' Awareness entails merely the passive recognition of the existence of autism, as in acknowledging the existence of people with autism. In itself, awareness involves no understanding or empathy on the part of the passive observer. Acceptance is different in that it requires an active change based on an understanding on the part of others. That is what it will take to make a difference for the human betterment here. Awareness of the existence of a problem or predicament does not entail any active concern to remedy an issue, it is entirely passive, leaving things unchanged and people unaided. Autism awareness has brought no appreciative difference for the better for people with autism. The figures which reveal how few people with autism are in employment of any kind are nothing short of a scandal which should shame society - less than 22% People are aware of autism; they may even express sympathy. But things carry on as 'normal.'
My final design has a simplicity and a humility. I think it is elegant. And it makes the point. Acceptance requires something on the part of others.
The headline ‘Being and Place’ directs people to the site that connects all my writing together in one place, via lots of links to my work. There are links to my specific books, papers, and articles on Academia, the Humanities Commons, ResearchGate and other places.
There are also links to my other websites. With this logo, I hope to direct people from my work in philosophy to my work on autism, and vice versa.
The text in this logo is designed to make people think about Being, about Place, and about the relation between the two. From the philosophical work, I invite people into mystery, bringing a psychological depth to an all-round awareness. It all connects.
Here's one I made earlier.
