It’s already mid-April and it would be interesting to find out how many people know that this is a month dedicated to raising awareness of autism.
In fact, on April 2, it is World Autism Awareness Day, and beginning from there, the rest of the month is dedicated to helping the autistic community get the understanding and inclusion it deserves.
This year, it is the 15th annual celebration of World Autism Awareness Day and, hopefully, as the years go by, more and more people will become familiar with it and support the cause.
One of the things people can do in order to show their support is to “light it up blue” as the campaign slogan goes.
Lighting it up blue can be achieved in many ways like, for instance, by raising money for the cause or posting on social media relevant pictures.
But there’s also a more literal meaning to this phrase. People can actually buy blue filters and switch their regular white lights for blue ones.
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One woman in Marco Island, South-West Florida, decided to take “light-it-up-blue” to a whole new level.
She put blue lights outside her home five years ago. As Tracey Taylor explained, her grandson is autistic and she decided to put up the blue lights in order to show her support to autistic people.
“This is another way I show my support to him and all the autistic children and adults,” Taylor told ABC7 SWFL.
Over these five years, nobody ever reached out to her to comment about her blue lights. As the woman explains, she never received any complaints about her choice.
However, a few months ago, she received a note that was encouraging her to switch the blue lights.
“Your neighbors would love it if you would consider changing your blue lights for white lights. Please + thank you,” the message read.
The woman was surprised and also frustrated when she read the note. She couldn’t help wondering why that person didn’t go to her in person to complain.
“Just come knock on my door and say ‘Hey, why do you have these?'” Taylor said.
But her grandson being autistic is not the only reason why she went for these lights. It’s also her husband’s job.
“My husband has worked at law enforcement,” she explained. “Police need our support. They need us just as much as we need them.”
When Taylor, who was upset after reading the note, chatted about it with her neighbor next door, something amazing happened.
The neighbor bought blue lights, too, and replaced the old ones that were white.
Around the same time, Taylor found out that another neighbor had ordered blue lights, as well.
“We’ll have a blue light special street,” the woman says proudly.
Indeed, Taylor should be proud of her neighbors who, instead of taking the side of the note-writer and complaining about the lights, they went on to change theirs as well in order to match Taylor’s.
What a lovely story.
You can watch it in the video below!
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