Racing Against Stigma: IndyCar Flagman Shares Inspiring Journey with Autism

Aaron Likens, an IndyCar flagger and author, has spent the last two decades living out his dream and breaking down stereotypes about what's possible for people with autism.

Likens was diagnosed with autism at age 20. At the time, he found misinformation online that was "damaging." He said early on, he was enthralled with everything related to racing and the person waving flags.

"Early on, I was just absolutely enthralled with everything with the speedway, the race, and, well, the person who waved the flags," he said.

Likens has been increasingly vocal about his experiences and misconceptions surrounding autism. He recently pushed back against misinformation after a post from United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on X-linked vaccines to autism.

"My motivation in writing and advocating as hard as I can is everybody needs to know the most important thing about autism is if you've met one person with autism, you've only met one person with autism," Likens said. "What applies to one could be the opposite for the next."

He said his happy place is being in a noisy, fast-paced environment, right above the cars on race day. However, he emphasized that might not be true for everyone on the spectrum.

"My happiest environment in the world is standing above 33 race cars in a very noisy environment," he said. "Next person with autism, that might not be their area that they would want to be in."

Likens credited his journey to the people who believed in him, including his father.

"If you tell a person they can't, they may never," he said. "I look back at my life, all the people that gave me a chance, that believed in me, that had hope for me to succeed."

He now works with employers to help them better understand how to support workers with autism and has encouraged others to do the same.

"For us on the autism spectrum, we can go on all day about our area of interest," Likens said. "For me, it would be IndyCar Flags… But for the next person, if that job is in their area of interest... they might be their future best employee."