We are more than just a baby sunglasses company. An important part of our business is our commitment to donate a portion of all sales to autism charity. In keeping with that, we also like to blog about inspiring stories from the autism community. This one comes from the Huffington Post and the Autism Research Center in San Diego.

The Huffington Post recently profiled a special friendship between Kreed and Skyler, two nonverbal teens with autism, one of whom is deaf and visually impaired. Kreed, 17, is able to communicate using an AAC device (the Dynavox T10 tablet ). In addition to being deaf, Skyler, 14, has Usher Syndrome; and he is gradually losing his peripheral vision. He is also unable to formally communicate.

 Nevertheless, the teenagers have become best friends; and they do the typical "teenager" things together, such as hanging out, eating, playing on the trampoline, watching videos, etc. Kreed, who is a few years older, has assumed the role of the leader. Since Skyler is apprehensive about walking on his own due to his vision problems, Kreed frequently helps him walk by holding his hand. Kreed's mother says that he feels empowered and gains confidence from being the "helper" rather than his usual role as the "helpee."

This is one of many inspiring autism stories that has been very popular on social media; and as a result, Kreed has over 10,000 likes on his Facebook page titled "Kreed's World." Kreed is also on Twitter, and writes a blog. You can also read the original Huffington Post story here, and see a 60 second video showing Kreed using AAC to tell his mother about his best friend Skyler here.