Log Off for a Cause

At a time when we prefer living our lives online thanks to social networking websites,can you manage to stay offline for a day? An Australian non-profit organisation AEIOU (Autism Early Intervention Outcomes Unit) that works in the field of treating Autism related disorders in children,is requesting avid social networking users to stay off Facebook and Twitter for a day to raise awareness on autism. So on November 1,you can join members from 40 countries including some 4.5 billion Facebook users,to support the cause. “We are requesting people to voluntarily be inactive on these sites and experience at some level the difficulty faced by people with autism who struggle with social interactions every day of their lives,” explains Dr James Morton,founder of AEIOU,who came up with the idea in February this year.

Designed on the lines of Earth Hour,where you switch off all electrical gadgets for an hour,this campaign has been titled Communication Shutdown and includes fundraising options. In India the campaign is being spearheaded by Asha Foundation,a Bangalore-based NGO that is working in the area of providing help for autism and other neurological disorders.

Though there will not be any fundraising event in India,people are free to donate money for the cause of autism by logging onto the website http://www.communicationshutdown.org.

“We are looking to generate a body of interest about autism-related disorders in India,” says Rajesh Vangal,head of the India chapter of the campaign. Once you register to this site,a tag gets attached to your Facebook and Twitter profiles that announces your support for autism awareness. “With 33 million Facebook users in India even if a handful can desist from logging on for a day then they have succeeded in passing the word about autism,” adds Vangal. AEIOU is also in the process of adding a feature with the help of which one can compare their social networking habits with users from across the world.