In an effort to make her son’s Halloween experience a bit more enjoyable this year, one mom on a mission, Omairis Taylor, took to Facebook to post about her 3-year-old son and explain that due to his nonverbal autism, trick-or-treating has been an obstacle. She wrote that at each house they visited last Halloween, she had to explain to the residents that her son could not say “trick or treat.” This year, they’re doing something different.
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Taylor came up with the idea to use a blue pumpkin bucket to collect candy, as a signal to other people that her son has autism. She wrote, “Please allow him (or any other person with a blue bucket) to enjoy this day and don’t worry I’ll still say trick or treat for him.” She set the post to public on Facebook and added, “I have made this post public in hopes you will share and get the blue bucket message out there for Autism Awareness this Halloween.” The post has since been shared more than 127,000 times.
While Taylor’s post is going viral, she isn’t the first to suggest the use of blue Halloween buckets to raise autism awareness. Last year, Autism Speaks suggested the same when they shared the story of a 21-year-old who was being told he was too old to trick-or-treat.
The post, written by the boy’s mother, read, “If you see someone who appears to be an adult dressed up to trick or treat this year carrying this blue bucket, he’s our son! His name is BJ & he is autistic. While he has the body of a 21-year-old, he loves Halloween. Please help us keep his spirit alive & happy. So when you see the blue bucket share a piece of candy. Spread awareness! These precious people are not too big to trick or treat.”