Intersectionality is important when understanding neurodiversity. They say that when you meet someone with autism, you have only met one person with autism. This expresses the individuality that comes with the autistic experience. Life experiences combined with specific symptoms produce a unique experience to a neurodivergent individual. The importance of telling my personal experience through ASD through my intersectionality is to highlight the value of considering individual differences when seeking diagnosis or help with mental health issues and disorders. This project explores my intersectionality as a Latin American woman with ASD and how it has molded my experience with neurodiversity. As a Latina I do not fit neatly into typical criteria for diagnosis of ASD as the original criteria was based on the white male experience. This project emphasizes the importance of understanding personal intersectionality in order to unlock a clearer understanding of why I experience ASD the way I do. Although this project is very personally based, I hope that it can open doors to other minorities by encouraging them to understand their own intersectionality in correlation to mental health as I have found my experience to be healing and eye opening. This project highlights the lengths that still need to be reached to fully understand ASD as our understanding of ASD is continuously growing. *Please take a look at my portfolio website for the full experience and project. Its cool I swear.*

Intersectionality is important when understanding neurodiversity. They say that when you meet someone with autism, you have only met one person with autism. This expresses the individuality that comes with the autistic experience. Life experiences combined with specific symptoms produce a unique experience to a neurodivergent individual. The importance of telling my personal experience through ASD through my intersectionality is to highlight the value of considering individual differences when seeking diagnosis or help with mental health issues and disorders. This project explores my intersectionality as a Latin American woman with ASD and how it has molded my experience with neurodiversity. As a Latina I do not fit neatly into typical criteria for diagnosis of ASD as the original criteria was based on the white male experience. This project emphasizes the importance of understanding personal intersectionality in order to unlock a clearer understanding of why I experience ASD the way I do. Although this project is very personally based, I hope that it can open doors to other minorities by encouraging them to understand their own intersectionality in correlation to mental health as I have found my experience to be healing and eye opening. This project highlights the lengths that still need to be reached to fully understand ASD as our understanding of ASD is continuously growing. *Please take a look at my portfolio website for the full experience and project. Its cool I swear.*

This thesis project explores my experience of ASD through 15 poster visualizations. These posters are sorted in the following categories to explore my intersectionality; ASD as a Latin American, ASD as a woman and ASD with special interest as a symptom. These categories are important to look at individually as they contribute to my personal experience with ASD as a whole. The special interest symptom is important to my individual experience as someone with ASD because symptoms can be experienced differently based on intersectionality. Each of the categories has 5 visualizations. In addition to the poster designs, I have put the posters into a poster book and have made 5 large poster prints.

This thesis project explores my experience of ASD through 15 poster visualizations. These posters are sorted in the following categories to explore my intersectionality; ASD as a Latin American, ASD as a woman and ASD with special interest as a symptom. These categories are important to look at individually as they contribute to my personal experience with ASD as a whole. The special interest symptom is important to my individual experience as someone with ASD because symptoms can be experienced differently based on intersectionality. Each of the categories has 5 visualizations. In addition to the poster designs, I have put the posters into a poster book and have made 5 large poster prints.

In these posters you will see several depictions of a teletubbie. A teletubbie is an alien creature famously seen in the kids show called Teletubbies. Teletubbies are bipedal aliens with a cat-like appearance. They have screens on their stomachs and a unique antennae on the top of their head which differentiate them from other teletubbies. Each teletubbie is uniquely coloured. Did I mention they’re adorable? I found myself illustrating teletubbies for fun during the winter break. I thought they were unique character designs. I began drawing teletubbies with different patterns, antennae, colours and features. Purley for fun, I enjoyed finding new ways to illustrate them. I used the teletubbie as a motif of self representation throughout my posters. I wanted an alternative to using pictures of myself because I cringe looking at my own face. I also found the fact that I illustrated the teletubbies myself a more intimate experience. This bizarre yet cute creature fits within the whimsical and unconventional traditions of ‘ugly’ design. The fact that teletubbies are aliens also felt appropriate as this project deals with several themes of alienation with my mental health journey.

In these posters you will see several depictions of a teletubbie. A teletubbie is an alien creature famously seen in the kids show called Teletubbies. Teletubbies are bipedal aliens with a cat-like appearance. They have screens on their stomachs and a unique antennae on the top of their head which differentiate them from other teletubbies. Each teletubbie is uniquely coloured. Did I mention they’re adorable? I found myself illustrating teletubbies for fun during the winter break. I thought they were unique character designs. I began drawing teletubbies with different patterns, antennae, colours and features. Purley for fun, I enjoyed finding new ways to illustrate them. I used the teletubbie as a motif of self representation throughout my posters. I wanted an alternative to using pictures of myself because I cringe looking at my own face. I also found the fact that I illustrated the teletubbies myself a more intimate experience. This bizarre yet cute creature fits within the whimsical and unconventional traditions of ‘ugly’ design. The fact that teletubbies are aliens also felt appropriate as this project deals with several themes of alienation with my mental health journey.