Boy With Autism Gets 1 Million Facebook Likes For His Birthday

Here’s a tear-jerker for you. An 11-year-old Michigan boy, Colin, told his mom not to throw him a birthday party because he didn’t have any friends to invite wound up getting one million “likes” on Facebook for his birthday.

Colin has a “sensory processing disorder and another disorder similar to autism”. Speaking as the father of a 13-year-old with autism, one of the most heart breaking aspects of the disorder is the lack of friends those afflicted have; my son had two friends in Michigan, he has 0 here. I don’t blame the “typical” kids, because they, like all of us, gravitate toward people who are like them and share their interests, and they’re just kids. The article mentions that parents of students in Colin’s class tried to get their kids out of his class. Maybe they’re afraid that it is contagious.

After Colin told his mom not to throw him a party, she took to Facebook to encourage people to send him birthday wishes and it succeeded to an amazing degree. I guess the frequent banality of Facebook is worth it if it can make an eleven year old atypical boy have a happy birthday.

You can like Colin's Facebook page and wish him a happy birthday by clicking here.