This photo has gone viral and when you see the girl’s dress, you’ll understand why

Published on July 6, 2020 at 5:00 PM by Lindsay Wilson

This photo was posted on Facebook by the young boy’s father and in it, you can see his autistic son, Jon with a young woman, Maddie clearly about to go to their end-of-year prom. In the caption of this photo, he wrote quite a touching message about tolerance and acceptance and in just a few days, the photo had received more than 100,000 likes.

Maddie met Jon through a school program that encourages non-disabled students to befriend students who are disabled or have other similar problems. Maddi and Jon’sfriendshipquickly blossomed, and they even started spending time with each other outside of school. Then, she decided she wanted to take him to prom, after asking Jon’s parents for permission of course.

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Prom night

Maddie did everything she could to make the night as memorable for Jon as possible. She asked what his favourite colour was and after she found out it was ‘orange’, she decided to wear an orange dress to make him happy. She also booked a table for their group for the big night in a restaurant which served Jon’s favourite meal, chicken and French fries.

The photo

When Maddie arrived at Jon’s house so they could go to prom, his father took a photo of them together which he then posted on Facebook along with the following message:

This is my son Jon with his prom date, Maddie. He is a junior and he has autism. About a month ago, Maddie, a senior, came to my office (I’m a teacher at their school) and asked if Jon’s mom and I would allow her to take him to prom. Maddie had gotten to know Jon through a school club that promotes friendships between special needs kids and regular kids. ‘He’s a junior,’ she explained ‘so it’s his prom too. I just think he should have the chance to go.’ I told her we would be honoured to have him go with her. […] I encourage everyone to like and share this for three reasons:

1. To show support for special kids like Jon 2. To show support for groups that promote these friendships 3. To remind us all, in a time when we hear about all the terrible things going on, that there are wonderful kids like Maddie working to make other’s lives better.

The father was so happy and touched by the young woman’s behaviour and gesture, and the night turned out to be just as magical for Jon as it was for the young girl who made it her mission to make it so special for him!

Check out the video above for more details.