The heart symbolizes the basic need that everyone on the planet requires… LOVE. The heart is composed of two parts: blue and gold.  It is blue on the first half of the heart because traditionally blue has been the colour used to represent Autism awareness.

A new color, gold, came with the rise of brilliant self-advocates in Autism.  These self-advocates stated that although Autism awareness is a necessary step, what they were looking for was Autism acceptance.  They suggested that gold would be the new blue.

Hence the heart graduates from blue to gold. Education, which leads to awareness, is the first step (blue). Having information and awareness lead to acceptance (gold).

The rays surrounding the heart represent the areas of need to be addressed when accepting, interacting with, or helping, an individual with ASD.

There are four colors used in the rays.  Yellow is the emotional /social part of a person’s being. Black is the physical being. White represents the intellectual portion of development. And red is spirituality or awareness of the self (which doesn’t necessarily mean religious unless the family is religious, then it would be included here).

The yellow includes relationships and emotional responses to the environment and the people around them. The black includes their body, self-regulation strategies, exercise to balance anxiety, sleeping patterns, diets, and overall physical health. The red, spirituality, includes how persons with ASD define themselves, how others define them, who they want to become and their purpose in life. The white rays represent the intellectual part of the person which encompass education, communication, and personal interests.

The logo reflects my belief that in order to reach a person’s full potential I need to address all aspects of my clients’ well-being, including social/emotional, spiritual, physical, and intellectual development.