Bob Cornelius, father of an 11-year-old autistic boy, recently posted a heartbreaking story on Facebook that has gone viral and inspired many. His post has over 50,000 shares on Facebook. Christopher, Bob’s son, struggles at school as an outcast. Being autistic makes him very different from other children because he learns and thinks in a completely different way.

In the Facebook post, his father wrote:

“Christopher’s brothers have had many, many sleepovers over the years, obviously, in front of him, and it has not gone unnoticed.

‘Can I have sleepover?’ Christopher has asked.

‘Sure, buddy….with whom?’ As a response, he would flap his arms and stim instead of answering. He didn’t have an answer because he didn’t have a name.

Because he didn’t have a friend.“

Bob Cornelius wrote a touching Facebook post after seeing what his autistic son, Christopher, wrote for a class assignment. At back-to-school night, Bob saw his assignment stating his favorite things. His response to “some of my friends are” really struck the boy’s dad.

It’s not hard to believe that children would avoid someone who’s different from them. Bob thinks that it’s not the kids’ fault at all and instead they need to be taught inclusion. In his post, he explained his understanding of the kids’ behavior.

“They were clearly not taught to embrace and accept the differences of others. Not by their teachers, which would have been nice, had they thought to do so, but by their parents. I don’t mean to imply that parents that don’t have this conversation with their kids are bad people, but only that somewhere in between working, soccer practice, and homework, it never occurred to them to have this particular conversation. I’m sure that if Christopher were typical (that’s the word we use instead of ‘normal’ in our world of ‘Holland’, for our developmentally delayed children), I would have not had this conversation with him either.”

Bob’s post inspired an incredible reaction that has changed Christopher’s life. Several people sent Christopher letters and videos promising to be his friend forever. The “card shower” showed Christopher that there are people that care about him. Parents have vowed in the comment section to talk to their children about being inclusive for people with special needs. Things are looking up for Christopher.

At the end of Bob’s post, he said:

“I am not so naive that I think this post is going to change the world. But, if, by sharing this, I can make you think about having a conversation with your children about empathy, about going out of their way to include those that are different from everybody else, especially if it goes against the group mentality, especially if it’s not socially popular (I’m not so old that I don’t remember that this takes bravery…bravery to break from the confines of whet your friends think is cool in the middle and high school worlds), then I will feel like Christopher’s voice has been heard.”