Autism has reached epidemic proportions. In the 1970s, 1 in 10,000 kids was born with autism. Today, the statistic is 1 in 88. This number means that more children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with HIV-AIDS, cancer and diabetes combined. Those with autism remain trapped in their bodies with no way of communicating.We learned that touch technology had the potential to open up a new world of communication, learning and social possibilities for those with autism.

Such was the case with Jordan Ewell, a boy that sat silent for 12 years. Then suddenly, with the help of touch technology, he said “I love you” to his mother for the first time.

We encouraged our client, HP, to develop and support an independent organization called Hacking Autism with the goal of demonstrating technology’s role in helping give voice to the voiceless.

We needed to make the autism community aware of this amazing breakthrough. We started by giving 20 touch-screen computers to 20 families with autistic children, then we tracked their progress. We documented it all in the film I Want to Say to raise awareness.It soon became clear to us that as touch-based hardware began to proliferate, the real area of need would be around developing better and more relevant software/apps for children with autism.

We created a grassroots campaign that actively engaged our audience by crowd-sourcing their ideas for apps. We gathered these ideas and created a technology summit we called the Hackathon. It was a two-day symposium that brought together autism experts and programmers/coders so they could teach and learn from one another in order to make software/apps.

7 different apps are in production and are planned for global release throughout 2012. They vary in range from simple communication to safety to a daily storyboard app meant to reduce social anxiety. They are all free, open-sourced and designed to work on any platform or device.Although it was assumed to be a 1-time achievement, Hacking Autism has been picked up by the world’s largest autism organisation: Autism Speaks.

Hacking Autism will be Autism Speaks’s largest initiative to date. It will be staffed full-time with a worldwide governance board, operating in many countries around the globe.HP continues to be the lead corporate sponsor of the Hacking Autism project.The autism community displayed deep support for this cause and submitted thousands of software ideas for consideration in the Hacking Autism ‘Hackathon’.Increased awareness of touch technology in the autism community has skyrocketed, but more importantly, we have helped strengthen families, improved relationships and given countless autistic children tools to unlock their voices and share them with the world.