[To see the press release, click here.]

A message to the entire Autistic community:

Last week, an Autistic person became aware of Color the Spectrum, a fundraising event for the nonprofit Next for Autism, and the controversy surrounding it. He recognized that there were people he knew who were involved in the event. He reached out to a friend who helped him begin a conversation about what was happening.

Due to this unique access and privilege, these efforts led to a good faith dialogue with Mark Rober. This conversation was then opened to three other advocates and a fourth was added after the meeting.

During this time, we were asked for and agreed to provide some recommendations that could help make this event less harmful to the Autistic community. When responding, our priorities included the messaging, language, and inclusion during the event itself, as well as allocation of some…