Fairfield Participates in “Light It Up Blue” for Autism Awareness Month
April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD), and Fairfield University will again participate in the “Light It Up Blue,” initiative sponsored by the Autism Speaks organization. Each April 2, Autism Speaks celebrates “Light It Up Blue” along with the international autism community, in commemoration of the United Nations-sanctioned World Autism Awareness Day. “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 will be bathed in a blue glow, lamps in some campus offices will burn blue and Fairfield students, including representatives from Alpha Sigma Nu, will distribute blue wrist bands and educational materials on autism in the Barone Campus Center. The Fairfield University website will change from “red” to “blue,” and Fairfield’s social media will post and tweet the University’s participation in the initiative. In addition, the Fairfield Stags softball team will wear “Light It Up Blue” patches on their uniforms.
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 Fairfield residents, both of whom received honorary degrees from Fairfield 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
