Danbury City Hall to turn blue for autism awareness

Emanuela Palmares Emanuela Palmares Photo: H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media Photo: H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Danbury City Hall to turn blue for autism awareness 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

DANBURY — The city will host its second annual “Light Up” ceremony Monday night in honor of World Autism Month in April.

Monday also is World Autism Awareness Day, so at 7 p.m., Danbury City Hall will light up in blue to raise awareness and acceptance for those living on the autism spectrum.

The event was organized by Emanuela Palmares, the Tribuna newspaper editor and recent appointee to the public school board.

Palmares’ 5-year-old son, Caio, was diagnosed with autism several years ago. She has spoken publicly about the challenges of caring for him and finding the best educational situation over the past several months.

Now she has become a vocal advocate for special-needs students as a member of the school board.

Autism affects one in 68 children and one in 42 boys, she notes.

“We started our journey down the autism road with early intervention,” she said. “He was diagnosed at age two and has received autism intervention services since and made incredible gains in some areas.

“That is why raising autism spectrum disorder awareness is so important,” she continued. “Encouraging early detection and intervention, acceptance and understanding can, in the long run, improve the quality of life of all individuals in the spectrum, no matter what age.”

The ceremony will include speeches and musical performances by the Danbury High School Madrigals and soul singer Dawn Tallman, a Danbury native.

The ceremony also will honor the Danbury AMC Theatres for offering the “Sensory Friendly Films” program, in which the lights are turned up and the sound turned down during movies for people with autism whose perceptual senses may be over- or under-sensitive.

The ceremony itself also will be sensory-friendly with a lower sound level, no clapping, a designated quiet area and available noise-canceling earmuffs to help attendees with autism feel welcome. Members of the public are invited and asked to wear blue.