Day without Facebook helps Lisle school for autistic, others

Bridget Kulik uses drums, a keyboard and her own singing voice to help autistic children learn how to communicate.

After work, the 32-year-old music therapist indulges in a different form of social communication keeping up with her friends on Facebook.

“My husband makes fun of me, ‘Are you on Facebook again?'” she said, laughing.

On Monday, though, Kulik is joining Facebook and Twitter users around the world in a one-day voluntary shutdown to raise awareness and money for autism.

“It's an awesome opportunity to give the general population a feeling of what our (students) go through on a daily basis wanting to communicate and not being able to,” said Kulik, who teaches at Giant Steps Illinois in Lisle.

Communication Shutdown challenges social network users: “Can you get by without Facebook or Twitter, for just one day?” Supporters log on to communicationshutdown.org and donate $5 or more to receive a charity app (CHAPP) that connects with their Facebook or Twitter accounts.

The app automatically loads a red shutdown icon to a user's Twitter account on Monday. Facebook users manually upload the icon to their profile pictures. An automatic message also goes out to the user's contacts.

It's not a boycott, nor is there any actual “shutdown.” Facebook and Twitter accounts won't be deactivated or blocked.

“If users decide to cheat a little on the day and log on to their account, that's entirely up to them,” Communication Shutdown's fact sheet says. No one will even know, as long as someone doesn't tweet or update his status but participants are free to do that, too.

“I think of it more like wearing a ribbon for AIDS or breast cancer awareness,” said Joey Maassen, development associate for Giant Steps Illinois. “It's ulitizing Facebook (and other social networking sites) to raise awareness of what's going on.”

It's also a way to show empathy for people with autism and their struggles to connect socially with others, organizers say.

Giant Steps is one of three autism organizations in the U.S. providing direct grass-roots support for Communication Shutdown. The campaign started in Australia and now has partners in more than 40 countries.

Money donated in the U.S. will be divided among Giant Steps, the Autism Society of Colorado and the HollyRod Foundation in Los Angeles, with another portion set aside for grants to fund community-based autism services throughout the U.S.

Organizers say they have no idea how much to expect in donations this year, but the fundraising potential is huge. Facebook alone has more than 110 million users in the U.S. and 500 million worldwide.

“We're hoping to spread the word as best we can,” said Bridget O'Connor, executive director of Giant Steps.

Giant Steps' community partners include Mullen's Bar & Grill, which hosted the kickoff event; Morton's The Steakhouse, underwriting an invitation-only luncheon for supporters on Monday; Navistar and the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce.

To boost participation, Giant Steps has organized challenges on college campuses to see which school can get the most students to sign on.

Autism is a developmental disorder that affects verbal and nonverbal communication. Some people with autism do not speak at all; those at the higher-functioning end of the spectrum may talk a lot but not follow the give-and-take of social interaction.

Autism affects as many as 1 in 110 children born today, and the incidence has been increasing.

Whatever money Giant Steps receives “will go right back into programming for the students, into community services and community training,” O'Connor said. “The number of people with autism is growing so quickly it's hard to meet the demand.”