It all began as a big idea from a small boy. He mentioned it to his Mom, and instead of brushing him off, she taught him how to create change.
And boy the changes they are making! Mom, Christie, remembers:
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"My youngest son has an autism diagnosis. In April 2013 we were driving by a tower in our hometown where they were lighting it up in Autism's signature color of blue to spread awareness.
"My youngest son, D, was too overstimulated to get out of the car and admire the tower, so we drove around it several times... talking about how they were celebrating him and the wonderful person God created in him.
And then the question came ....[su_spacer size="30"]
'When are they going to celebrate me, Mama?'[su_spacer size="10"]
"My oldest son, Beau (who has dyslexia) asked me that question. I went from SEEING RED to knowing that I had to REDEEM RED for my child. We had to celebrate our children with dyslexia and I needed to step away from the fight for a moment and just to stare at the celebration that needed to occur."
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Together, their idea grew. Within one year Christie and Beau founded
Roundtable Solutions, a group that aims to spread awareness for special education families. This year, Roundtable Solutions teamed up with Decoding Dyslexia Alabama to make the idea even bigger.
"We want the entire world to wear RED on October 15th. Then, snap a photo and upload it to social media with the hashtag #DyslexiaDay or #RedeemingRed."
You may be thinking, why red? Isn't dyslexia's color silver? The explanation is beautiful.
"We were determined to
take it back from being that nasty little color that plagued his spelling papers and
turn it into not only HIS color,
but that of every other person 
with a dyslexia diagnosis. The nation will shine bright in red to celebrate our kids and the historical Silver linings of dyslexia will shine all around these parties. Our kids ARE the silver linings of the challenges that dyslexia brings! We won't forget where we've come from (silver is historically dyslexia's color) as we're blazing a well lit trail for where we're going!"
Read more about Redeeming Red
here.
Spread the word! Wear red and upload your pics on social media Oct 15th. Learning Ally will be sharing some throughout the day, both on facebook and twitter. Make sure to share your #DyslexiaDay pictures to our social accounts!
About Learning Ally
Learning Ally is a national nonprofit serving students with learning & visual disabilities. We provide resources for parents; training and technology for teachers and schools; and 80,000 human-voiced audio textbooks for K-12 through higher ed. Together it’s possible. To learn more about membership, visit: go.learningally.org