The Pink Bird

Description

About this card

Every morning you and your partner wake up and have breakfast together. You chat, eat, and enjoy each-other’s company. You then both go about your day.
One day you get a call from your mum and you tell her about your breakfast with your partner. She asks you “How is the bird?”
“What bird?” you ask.
“The pink bird” she replies, as though you should know exactly what she is talking about.
“Mum, I have no idea which pink bird you are talking about.” You are completely confused. You reiterate, “We don’t have a pink bird.”
“Don’t be silly! You know, the pink bird who sits on your partner’s shoulder every morning whilst you eat breakfast together. They have had breakfast with the pink bird on their shoulder every morning for as long as you have known them.”
Confused, you ask others about the pink bird, and they all claim they can see the pink bird. Every morning you look for it, but you can never see the pink bird.
This is how one autistic person describes what it is like to be told that they miss social cues. It isn’t that we miss them; we simply aren’t aware that they are there to begin with. It takes effort for an autistic person to see non-autistic social cues, like trying to learn another language.
Milton’s double empathy problem points out that autistic people communicate and connect differently to non-autistic people, and have a different set of social cues. Both neurotypes miss each other’s social cues. Non-autistic communication is the dominant style of socialising, and they are rarely told they miss social cues because they all communicate in a similar way.

Pricing Description

• Free Download – This is a free download that allows you to share our visuals in a digital format, this is a great size for phones and tablet devices. They are not designed for printing
• High-quality .png file – This file can be used for digital presentations and workshops. It can be printed in documents at up to an A5 size without losing detail.
• A4 Print – Professionally printed on quality paper, these prints can be used when describing autism to others, as a small poster, or as a reference source
• A4 print pack – If you wish to hand out our info sheets to many clients or parents then this is a great option to buy them in bulk
• A6 sized print – Printed on card stock, these small versions of our visuals are a great tool to use to explain autism to others, orders of 15 or more (of any type of A6 card) comes with a free box to store them in
• A6 sized print –bulk (25 cards of 1 type) – a bulk order of 1 type of card. A great option when advocating, when you want to leave some information behind or include additional information in assessment and reporting.
• A3 Poster print – a single A3 sized poster print
• A2 Poster print – A single A2 sized poster print

About our visuals

The Little Black Duck’s visuals, information cards, and infographics are designed to help explain and expand our understanding of neurodiversity and autism.

Our visuals are evidence and research-informed, and include the voices of autistic lived experiences.

They come in a range of sizes and packs that you can use to distribute to clients, supports, teachers, or staff (or anyone who wants to know more about autism).

Our visuals often use principles from Carol Grey’s colour coding and symbols to express thoughts and emotions, helping them integrate more easily into other communication and support systems. This also helps them to become a richer form of communication as the user grows and their needs and thoughts become more complex and diverse.

Referencing the Little Black Duck’s Visuals

When referencing our work, please use the following guide:

• Content owner: Melanie Martinelli,
• Date: use the copyright for the reference date, or the date of download
• Title: Use the image title/heading