Today Autism Speaks celebrates Light It Up Blue
Light it up blue, coined by the research organization Autism Speaks is celebrated annually today on April 2nd and is the official day for raising awareness for Autism. Today is also the kick-off of World Autism Awareness month in the United States.
Like many companies, HAYSTACKID gets asked to sponsor a number of benefits and charities throughout the year from a variety of clients, vendors and co-workers. However, Autsim Speaks is certainly one of those organizations near and dear to our hearts. As a parent of an autistic child, Autism Speaks is the world’s leading autism science and advocacy organization dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and ultimate cure for autism, and increasing overall awareness of the autism spectrum disorder. The latest CDC statistics makes this organization even more prominent as 1 out of 68 children have been identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder. In boy’s that number is a greater with a prevalence of 1 out of every 42 boys identified.
Probably one of the cooler things about my job is getting to know my clients on a personal level. With such a high national prevalence rate it’s no wonder when speaking with different clients about their children, many are in a similar boat affected directly or indirectly by Autism.
What really is Autism Awareness?
To me aside from pointing out the number of people affected by autism nationally, I think autism awareness is about disseminating information to new parents to understand the early signs and warnings of autism in order to get successful interventions early on for their child. From my perspective early intervention is key. I think awareness is also to honor the uniqueness among these kids (and adults). My son has certainly provided me a different perspective on life personally and professionally and I certainly cannot thank him enough for that gift.
Sources:
https://www.autismspeaks.org/liub
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html”