Ƶ Will “Light It Up Blue” for Autism Awareness April 2
April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD), and Ƶ University will, for the fourth year in a row, participate in the “Light It Up Blue” initiative sponsored by the Autism Speaks organization.
Annually, Autism Speaks celebrates “Light It Up Blue” along with the international autism community, in commemoration of the United Nations-sanctioned World Autism Awareness Day. For additional information:
“Light It Up Blue” is a unique global initiative that kicks-off Autism Awareness Month and helps raise awareness about autism. In honor of this historic day, many iconic landmarks, hotels, sporting venues, concert halls, museums, bridges and retail stores are among the hundreds of thousands of homes and communities that take part in the initiative.
The Barone Campus Center and the chapel bells will be bathed in a blue glow, and a group of Ƶ students will distribute blue wrist bands and educational materials on autism in the Barone Campus Center. The Ƶ University website will display an Autism Speaks link, and Ƶ’s social media will post and tweet the University’s participation in the initiative.
World Autism Awareness Day shines a bright light on autism as a growing global health concern. WAAD activities help to increase and develop world knowledge of the autism crisis and impart information regarding the importance of early diagnosis and early intervention. WAAD celebrates the unique talents and skills of people with autism and features community events around the world where individuals with autism and their families are warmly welcomed and embraced.
Autism Speaks was founded in 2005 by Bob and Suzanne Wright, longtime Ƶ residents, both of whom received honorary degrees from Ƶ University in 2012. The organization has grown into the world’s leading autism science and advocacy organization, dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism; increasing awareness of autism spectrum disorders; and advocating for the needs of individuals with autism and their families. It now has affiliates in several countries.
