Neurodiversity symbol
The rainbow infinity symbol is the sign of the neurodiversity movement, which holds that differences such as autism, ADHD and dyslexia are natural variations among people. Autistic advocates first used it in 2005; a gold version stands for autism in particular.
Meaning
Harvard Health Publishing describes neurodiversity as the idea that people experience and interact with the world in many different ways, with no one right way of thinking, learning and behaving, and differences not seen as deficits. The movement grew in the 1990s as autistic people found each other online. The Australian sociologist Judy Singer is usually credited with the word; she calls neurodiversity the “name of a social movement, not a diagnosis”. The rainbow infinity is the movement’s emblem, carried by autistic and other neurodivergent people and on the Autistic Pride flag, whose makers say the infinity stands for neurodiversity. Its gold counterpart is the autism infinity symbol.
Origin and history
Singer used the word in her honours thesis in sociology at the University of Technology Sydney, written between 1996 and 1998 and titled Odd People In. Birkbeck, University of London, which made her a fellow, says she joined the “neuro” of neuroscience to the biodiversity of the environmental sciences, and quotes her: “just as biodiversity is essential to ecosystem stability, so neurodiversity may be essential for cultural stability.” The journalist Harvey Blume, who had been corresponding with her, popularised the word in The Atlantic in 1998.
Who coined it is disputed. In 2024 six autistic scholars, Monique Botha, Robert Chapman, Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, Steven Kapp, Abs Stannard Ashley and Nick Walker, argued in the journal Autism that “neurological diversity” and “neurodiversity” first appeared in print in Blume’s work in 1997 and 1998, and that Blume credited them to the online autistic community, not to Singer. They cite a 1996 post on the autistic email list InLv in which Tony Langdon wrote of the “neurological diversity of people”, and ask that the concept be recognised as having collective origins.
Autistic Pride Day, first held in 2005 by the autistic online forum Aspies for Freedom, is marked by the rainbow infinity (American Autism Association); Aimee Grant, writing in The Conversation, dates the symbol to autistic advocates in the same year.
What the rainbow stands for
The movement reads its colours in more than one way. Grant says the rainbow infinity stands for the diversity of the neurodivergent community, autistic people included. The Autistic Empire, which publishes the Autistic Pride flag, gives the infinity to neurodiversity and the rainbow to the pride movement. The American Autism Association treats the rainbow infinity as the sign of Autistic Pride Day and of the variety among autistic people. The shape is the mathematician’s infinity sign.
Where you’ll see it today
whatdoesthissymbolmean.comSunflower lanyard (hidden disabilities)A green lanyard printed with yellow sunflowers is the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower. The scheme says it shows that the wearer has a disability, condition or chronic illness that may not be visible, and may need extra help, understanding or more time. Wearing it is voluntary.See also
Infinity symbol (∞), Autism infinity symbol, Sigils, Schrödinger’s cat, Infinity symbol (∞), Autism infinity symbol.
Sources
- Why the autism jigsaw puzzle piece is such a problematic symbol, Aimee Grant, Swansea University, 10 April 2025, The Conversation
- Autistic Pride, Autistic Empire
- Judy Singer, College Fellowship citation, Birkbeck, University of London
- The neurodiversity concept was developed collectively: An overdue correction on the origins of neurodiversity theory, Monique Botha, Robert Chapman, Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, Steven K. Kapp, Abs Stannard Ashley and Nick Walker, Autism 28 (6), 2024 (abstract, University of Portsmouth research portal), University of Portsmouth, Abstract
- What is neurodiversity?, Nicole Baumer and Julia Frueh, 23 November 2021, Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School
- Autistic Pride Day – June 18th, American Autism Association
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Last reviewed September 30, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research