--- title: World Autism Awareness Day: Why People Wear Blue description: April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day, and people are wearing the color blue to raise awareness for the developmental disorder. canonical: https://time.com/5224429/autism-awareness-day/ author: Alix Langone article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-04-02T15:21:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:50:38.909Z article:section: Health og:title: People Are Wearing Blue Today for Autism Awareness Day og:description: Here's how to support the cause og:url: https://time.com/5224429/autism-awareness-day/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt328d5a86813a7e86/69892c9786f68eec756e8c42/world-autism-awareness-day.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3300 og:image:height: 1856 og:image:alt: World Autism Awareness Day og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: People Are Wearing Blue Today for Autism Awareness Day twitter:description: Here's how to support the cause twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt328d5a86813a7e86/69892c9786f68eec756e8c42/world-autism-awareness-day.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # People Are Wearing Blue Today for Autism Awareness Day > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Alix Langone](https://time.com/author/alix-langone/) ## Alix Langone Apr 2, 2018 3:21 PM UTC  Volunteers holding blue umbrellas walk for 5 kilometers with no speaking on the World Autism Awareness Day at Pujiang County on April 2, 2017 in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province of China. Volunteers holding blue umbrellas walk for 5 kilometers with no speaking on the World Autism Awareness Day at Pujiang County on April 2, 2017 in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province of China. VCG—VCG via Getty Images by [Alix Langone](https://time.com/author/alix-langone/) ## Alix Langone Apr 2, 2018 3:21 PM UTC April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day, and people are wearing the color blue to raise awareness for the developmental disorder. World Autism Awareness Day is an [internationally recognized event](http://www.un.org/en/events/autismday/) when the United Nations reaffirms its “commitment to promote the full participation of all people with autism, and ensure they have the necessary support to be able to exercise their rights and fundamental freedoms.” Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects about 1% of the world’s population, according to the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html) (CDC). This year’s World Autism Awareness Day is focused on supporting women and girls who have been diagnosed with the condition. “The 2018 World Autism Awareness Day observance at United Nations Headquarters New York will focus on the importance of empowering women and girls with autism and involving them and their representative organizations in policy and decision making to address these challenges,” according to the U.N.’s website. Various buildings and landmarks around the world will light up in the color blue Monday to raise autism awareness as well. The [White House](http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-updates-everything-president-trump-marks-autism-awareness-day-with-a-1491185635-htmlstory.html), the [Empire State Building and Niagara Falls](http://abc7chicago.com/health/what-to-know-about-light-it-up-blue-and-world-autism-awareness-day/3290486/) have all been lit in blue on Autism Awareness Day in years past. If you want to show your support for autism awareness on social media, you can use these [pre-written tweets and posts, or even turn your Facebook profile picture blue](https://twibbon.com/support/light-it-up-blue-4) for the day. You can also use the hashtag #LightItUpBlue. April is also Autism Awareness Month. More than 3.5 million Americans fall somewhere on the autism spectrum, [according to the Autism Society of America](http://www.autism-society.org/what-is/facts-and-statistics/); about 1 in 68 children in the U.S. are identified as having ASD, [according to the CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/p0327-autism-spectrum-disorder.html). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5224429/autism-awareness-day/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5224429/autism-awareness-day/"},"headline":"People Are Wearing Blue Today for Autism Awareness Day","datePublished":"2018-04-02T15:21:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:50:38.909Z","description":"Here's how to support the cause","url":"https://time.com/5224429/autism-awareness-day/","keywords":["Autism","onetime","healthytime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt328d5a86813a7e86/69892c9786f68eec756e8c42/world-autism-awareness-day.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alix Langone","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alix-langone/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt328d5a86813a7e86/69892c9786f68eec756e8c42/world-autism-awareness-day.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"World Autism Awareness Day","caption":"World Autism Awareness Day","creditText":"VCG—VCG via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/autism/","name":"Autism"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5224429/autism-awareness-day/","name":"People Are Wearing Blue Today for Autism Awareness Day"}}]}] ```