Light It Up Blue for World Autism Day

Sonora, CA – In recognition of World Autism Day on Sunday, April 2, Sonora Regional Medical Center will once again be lit up in blue throughout the night. Each April 2, Autism Speaks celebrates the start of its signature campaign Light It Up Blue (#LIUB) along with the international autism community, in recognition of UN sanctioned World Autism Day and April, World Autism Month.

The Light It Up Blue campaign is celebrated in 157 countries around the world. Iconic landmarks and buildings will join hundreds of thousands of homes and communities around the world to light up in blue in support of people living with autism. Sonora Regional Medical Center is proud to join the thousands of buildings and landmarks that have gone “blue” year after year including the Empire State building in New York, the Sydney Opera House in Australia and the Great Pyramids of Giza.

For more information, please visit www.autismspeaks.org.

Some facts about autism

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates autism’s prevalence as 1 in 68 children in the United States. This includes 1 in 42 boys and 1 in 189 girls.
• An estimated 50,000 teens with autism become adults – and lose school-based autism services – each year.
• Around one third of people with autism remain nonverbal.
• Around one third of people with autism have an intellectual disability.
• Certain medical and mental health issues frequently accompany autism. They include gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, seizures, sleep disturbances, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety and phobias.

Note: In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association merged four previously distinct diagnoses into one umbrella diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). These included autistic disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) and Asperger syndrome.