Originally posted March 30th - April 5th 2020
https://x.com/HJ_Ellis/status/1244612169792094210
#WAAW #WorldAutismAcceptanceWeek
#SpectrumOfColours
Day 1: Red
Red is both a good and a bad colour for me, its warning, danger and stress but its also passion and love!
Red is adrenaline, its the three meltdown types (flight, fight and freeze) and it's that spark of bravery.
Red is a really powerful colour, it can cause rapid reactions via red traffic lights or the sight of blood - which is probably the origin of reds association with danger!
Red is also a useful easy-to-spot colour for warnings and instructions like on interaction badges 
But red is also a beautiful colour, it's the colour of bravery and daring; to me it's the colour my hair goes when I'm feeling bold, the colour of the Sarries second kit that goes with scary away trips!
Red in small amounts is comforting, its rubies, the July birthstone of my mum, or roses. It's a Christmas colour that brings great joy and in darker berry/burgundy shades it's a colour I adore wearing as it just feels warm to me!
Red will always cause that initial element of panic, even in lesser situations red is the go-to colour we use to signal something bad - a red card in sport, red ink for corrections on work, or being "in the red" for debt or running out of fuel.
Overall, red is what I call an "extreme" colour, it's never a background ignorable colour and there is often meaning attached to it. As a colour I love it, even if it does make my heart race at times!
#SpectrumOfColours
#WAAW #WorldAutismAcceptanceWeek
#SpectrumOfColours
Day 2: Orange
Orange is warm to me; it's a roaring fire with glowing embers or a gorgeous desert scene 
Orange is the terracotta shades of my bedroom walls, chosen because they "feel" warmer to me, it's also the glow of the sun and a colour used in images of nebulas
Orange makes me think of the summer 
and the autumn 
Bright mornings that start with orange juice and involve ice lollies in the sun, followed by autumnal leaves and the glow of pumpkins at halloween
and the autumn
Bright mornings that start with orange juice and involve ice lollies in the sun, followed by autumnal leaves and the glow of pumpkins at halloween
It's also, fairly obviously, both a colour and a fruit! But it's a fruit who's flavour is added to one of my favourite chocolate items the Terry's Chocolate Orange!
Orange unfortunately also has some negative connotations at the moment thanks to a man I refuse to name or show an image of here. Have an image of a bag of wotsits instead and hopefully understand the metaphor!
But finishing up back on positive things, orange is also the colour of two of the happiest Disney characters in Pluto and Tigger, along with one of my favourite fictional villains in (the Eye of) Sauron!
Overall, orange is warmth and joy to me, even if I rarely like it in clothes or block colour! It's also the colour that gives basis to the shades of peach, coral and sienna which are ones I love 
#SpectrumOfColours
#SpectrumOfColours
#WAAW #WorldAutismAcceptanceWeek
#SpectrumOfColours
Day 3: Yellow
Yellow is a colour I don't get on with very well due to some bad experiences as a child but there are some things about the colour that make me smile, like the sight of yellow flowers in spring! 
My dislike of the colour yellow is mostly related to the incident that caused my phobia of ladybirds, but it also links to a dislike of yellow road signs and the panic that seeing a bright yellow ambulance causes
Yellow does have some good food connections for me though, the right shades can make me think of hot buttery toast, lemon cheesecake or bananas!
Yellow is also a colour I associate with my university days, neon paint parties and glow sticks (mostly whilst collecting for various charities!)
The other association yellow has for me is of course Gold; golden sandy beach and blonde hair (it was a one of for my trip to San Francisco!), golden fountain fireworks (quiet ones!) and glittery gold shoes that are my conference back ups!
Overall I get that other people may love yellow but it's not a colour that is one I get on well with, from high-vis jackets that often signal a horrible sensory time for me to bumblebees and wasps that startle and scare me, it's a colour I'd rather give a miss!
#SpectrumOfColours
Ah, actually I did forget one time I do really like the colour yellow! Probably slipped my mind as I'm trying hard not to think about all the things I love that aren't happening this year 
#WAAW #WorldAutismAcceptanceWeek
#SpectrumOfColours
Day 4: Green
Green is a colour I love in certain shades (mint, emerald, forest, teal) and utterly hate in others (lime, neon, olive, khaki)
As a colour it's supposed to be calming and peaceful but I find some of the shades utterly turn my stomach!
Neon and lime are ones that can make me feel violently ill while the drab olive/khaki colours used by the armed forces just make me feel a bit queasy and kinda sad!
Green is very hit and miss in the whole for food - on a good day it makes me think of freshly shelled peas, grapes and granny smith apples which I love, but on bad days it makes me think of sprouts, avocados, kale and other leafy greens that set off negative sensory responses!
Green can also, during early March mostly, instigate some very negative sensory memories related to St Patrick's day and Guinness - I cannot stand the smell of the stuff and find the whole concept of how St Patrick's day is often celebrated very odd
But from a positive point of view green is a very good colour! It tells you things are good, that it's okay to go, that spring is coming!
Green in nature is wonderful; woods full of mossy carpets and vegetation, rainforests with sprawling vines and amazing plants, even my own garden (which seems dull in comparison!) 
Within nature my favourite green though has always been grass - the glorious green of a rugby pitch is one of my favourite sights in the world! 
My all time favourite shades of green though are deep forest and mint - colours I love to wear (even if it took a while to stop associating dark green with school uniform!)
Side note - I have the dress in the 4th pic but haven't worn yet as the event it's for got CV19 ppd! 
Emeralds are a gemstone I adore and think are so pretty *but* do have a habit of making me think of the Wizard of Oz!
Its a film that I both like and dislike in different moments but definitely got more skewed to the negative since seeing the play Wicked which I did not like!
Overall, green is a colour that invokes strong responses from me but which end of the mood spectrum the response is really depends on the shade! 
#SpectrumOfColours
#SpectrumOfColours#WAAW #WorldAutismAcceptanceWeek
#SpectrumOfColours
Day 5: Blue
Blue is how I've been feeling all day; cold, depressed, melancholy and upset.
Completing Blue before I move on to today's Indigo . . .
Blue is a colour the generally has positive emotions attached to it apart from two really key uses.
The first is the reason most of us autistic folk dislike this week and the second is a necessary panic trigger.
The blue of emergency vehicle sirens is a shade that really does make me go in high alert (partly in bracing for the siren sound) which means I have real issues with that colour being used anywhere else - including blue outdoor lights at Christmas, celebrating the NHS and the O2
It's the reason I struggled when I went to the tennis ATP tour at arena 4yrs ago, every time there was a challenge from a players a blue pulsing graphic with a heartbeat noise went around the court, my heart was racing so fast by the end of the match I was hyperventilating
I even struggled in the O2 Blue Room my brother and I visited prior to the England vs All Blacks match in 2018 - that much solid blue light gave me a massive headache (luckily after leaving we went into one of my favourite places in the world so I cheered up immeasurably!)
But, blue can have a really lovely side to it!! I adore water in all its liquid forms - running tap water, the deep blue ocean, still lakes, it's all utterly gorgeous to me!
My love of water (especially the sensory feel of moving water on my hands) is probably why I find blue such a good colour for my sensory aids, I find it soothing and peaceful
Blue also makes me think of my love/hate relationship with the trains and my commute to work!
I miss it a lot at the moment.
My final word on Blue before I go on to Indigo (and there is an argument there over which shades go into which!)
The blue of twitter is one that can drive me to despair but also bring a sense of connectedness with the world. Right now I really treasure that.
#SpectrumOfColours
#WAAW #WorldAutismAcceptanceWeek
#SpectrumOfColours
Day 6: Indigo
Indigo is a bizarre colour, somewhere between dark blue and purple, mostly known for being the dye used for jeans
Indigo ink reminds me of school, using fountain pens in middle school and ending up with dark blue fingers regularly!
The inky blue of the nights sky after sunset, the huge expanse of space, the deepest of night lit up by lightning, all scenes that fill me with a sense of wonder at the universe around us 
The darkest depths of the ocean are an inky indigo, which has a tendency to remind me of the necklace from Titanic! I've always loved the idea of doing a journey across the ocean via a big liner, getting to see the amazing view of space above unimpeded by urban light pollution
Indigo also reminds me of two of my favourite moments in the arts - the few seconds in Lion King as the scene changes from dark and desolute to being rich lush green and alive again, and the colours of the coats worn by the Revolutionists in Hamilton!
Indigo is also the colour of one of my favourite novelty jewellery items (maths geek!) and one of my favourite floor length dresses that I wore to speak at an evening event a few years ago!
#SpectrumOfColours
#WAAW #WorldAutismAcceptanceWeek
#SpectrumOfColours
Day 7: Violet
The end of the rainbow! A colour that takes its name from a flower and is different to purple. For the purposes of this thread though I'll be talking about both violet & purple and my feelings on various shades
Violets are a beautiful flower that are a favourite of mine to see in gardens, they also remind me of the April Violets perfume my great grandmother used to wear and the Parma Violet sweets she used to have!
Purple has historically been associated with powerful people such as Roman Emperors, Clergy, and Royalty. The colour was restricted due to the high cost of producing it and therefore became a way of reflecting someone's status and wealth.
Amethyst is my birthstone and as such purple has long been a colour I've gravitated towards wearing for important occasions as I have been gifted amethyst jewellery over the years by family
Not all shades of Violet/Purple are ones I like, lavender is a shade that always makes me recoil as my mum has such a bad asthma reaction to it that I have learnt to hate the smell and sight of lavender!
Violet/Purple is the colour of many beloved things to me, but none more so at the moment than chocolate and my favourite character in my favourite board game!
Overall Violet/Purple is a colour that I have lots of positive attachments to, it reminds me of really good moments and has wonderful sensory associations but even more now it also makes me think of some really amazing people in my colleagues!
#SpectrumOfColours
#WAAW #WorldAutismAcceptanceWeek
#SpectrumOfColours
Having covered all the colours of the rainbow now I'm going to finish with a few of my favourite multi-coloured pictures!
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