"The United Nations General Assembly unanimously declared 2 April as World Autism Awareness Day to highlight the need to help improve the lives of children and adults who suffer from the disorder so they can lead full and meaningful lives." United Nations

Here UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has a little help from his friends to talk about the day

The diagram below highlights some of the challenges facing autistic people every day:

Books can often help to give us an insight into the lives and experience of others.

The Librarians have suggested the following books in honour of Autism Awareness Day 2014:

• Suzanne Carlisle Crowley    The Very Ordered Existence of Merilee Marvelous
• Siobhan Dowd                        The London Eye Mystery
• Kathryn Erskine                     Mockingbird
• Kathy Hoopman                    Inside Asperger's Looking Out
• Kathy Hoopman                    All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome
• Kathy Hoopman                    Haze
• Tara Kelly                                Harmonic Feedback
• Ashley Miller                          Colin Fischer
• Lynn Lachmann-Miller         Rogue
• Francisco X. Stork                  Marcelo in the Real World

Link to the United Nations Website:

http://www.un.org/en/events/autismday/