Woman gets $150 fine for lighting her house blue to support World Autism Awareness Month
A California woman is speaking out about the pushback that she received from her homeowners’ association after changing her exterior home lighting to blue in support of World Autism Awareness Month.
Lisa McBridge is the mother of an autistic child and a 16-year resident of Discovery Bay’s Lakeshore Gated Community, where she’s been changing the color of her porch lights for the month of April for the past five years. But this year, just a few days after she put up the blue lights to support the cause, she received a non-compliance notice and warning of a $150 fine.
According to a Facebook post that McBride wrote on Apr. 6 — just four days after World Autism Awareness Day — she said that changing her lights is the “very least we can do to show our love, support and acceptance” for not only her 19-year-old son, Jake McBride, but also people around the world with autism. She couldn’t believe the association’s fight against it.
“Shame on you Lakeshore, and your discriminatory lack of compassion,” she wrote just two days after receiving the letter. She also noted that the Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions for their community doesn’t include anything about lighting color.
But on Monday, the homeowners association and its manager, Tony Abad, relented after receiving calls and emails in support of McBride. Abad didn’t immediately respond to Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment. According to the East Bay Times, however, he wrote to McBride to inform her that he was unaware of National Autism Awareness Month and told her to disregard the letter.
Now, McBride is thanking people for their support and for bringing attention to the homeowners association that has since allowed her to keep the blue lights. She even points out that more people in the neighborhood are turning on their own blue lights as a result.
“Our huge gratitude to the outpouring of support for our blue lights in Lakeshore. Rest assured our porch will remain lit in blue for the whole month of April to honor our son with Autism and the 3.5 million people in the US challenge by Autism every day,” she wrote in a follow-up Facebook post. “Many of you have texted me or messaged me about where to get your blue light bulbs to show your support as well.”
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