T-shirts with a message will tame autism

The mother of a boy with Asperger's syndrome has founded Aspirations.com.co.uk, an online store with unusual T-shirts. Featuring slogans on the autism spectrum, they are meant to build a community around autistic people and increase understanding of their behavior.

"Autism is not contagious. Ignorance yes," is one of the slogans that can be found on the T-shirts available at the Aspirations.com.pl online store. The author of the idea is Kinga Jackl, mother of a teenager with Asperger's syndrome. - I got sick in the winter and had to lie in bed for several days. When I started to regain my energy and listened to broadcasts about the perception of autism in society, I found that it was necessary to look for some "medium" to tame the phenomenon. The idea of T-shirts came into my head," says Kinga Jackl. She wrote down almost 50 slogans overnight, but it was still going to be six months before Aspiration was created. - If engaging texts were put on the T-shirts, which would be short, understandable and graphically consistent, maybe it would be possible to explain certain behaviors of autistic people and improve relations on the border of two worlds? - she wondered at the time.

Kinga set up a store on the Shoper platform, which provides software for online stores. As a result, she didn't have to create her store from scratch, just choose a template and add products. - Aspirations is a store based on a great idea with a social message. It shows that an e-store can be a tool for change and mission accomplishment. For these reasons, stores on our platform are also often set up by foundations and associations, which thus gain funds for their activities, notes Tomasz Tybon, director of sales and marketing at Dreamcommerce, a provider of Shoper online store software.

On Aspirations.com.co.uk, you can buy inexpensive T-shirts with engaging slogans, such as "Autism is not cured. Autism is accepted.", or thought-provoking definitions, e.g. Asperger's Syndrome - an alternative operating system. Families, professionals and all those who want to raise public awareness of autism (including Asperger's syndrome), as well as autistics themselves, will find the message hit. Under the "Perspective: Me" tab, there are slogans dedicated precisely to people with a specific way of development. - What is very important for them, these are not stigmatizing T-shirts. Slogans like "Simple things are difficult, although I try hard" or "I perceive and think unusually. These can be assets," on the one hand explain unusual behavior or inference, and on the other hand facilitate communication with the environment, which is a prerequisite for greater independence, Kinga believes. Some of the slogans are inspired by texts or situations related to the environment, while others were created from start to finish in the head of the store's founder. Aspirations owes its graphics to the friendly studio Artkolektyw, which developed the visual concept completely pro bono.

The store has been up and running since mid-May, as has the Facebook page, and T-shirts are already going worldwide. Both parents (for themselves and their kids) and therapists are placing orders. In the future, Kinga would like to expand sales to include other products, as well as start a blog to convince people that this part of society (about 1 percent) represents untapped potential, especially in the job market.

- For autism, there is no magic pill after which difficulties will completely disappear. One does not grow out of autism. It is possible to improve the functioning of an autistic person, but for this, acceptance is needed in the first place. Promoting acceptance of diversity (here neurological diversity) lies at the heart of the whole enterprise - it is, as it were, my own aspiration," the store's founder stresses.