UNITED NATIONS: Yoko Ono will unveil an original mural titled Promise at UN headquarters next month in honour of World Autism Awareness Day, an advocacy group said on March 16.

The mural by the 76-year-old widow of slain former Beatle John Lennon, who also is an avant-garde artist, is to be auctioned off in support of the advocacy group Autism Speaks.

The event marks the 2nd Annual World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) on April 2, Autism Speaks said in a statement.

WAAD was created by a UN General Assembly resolution in December 2007 to increase public awareness about autism and to stress the importance of early diagnosis and intervention. The mural unveiling will be sponsored by Chile’s UN mission, said Autism Speaks, which also is backing the event.

The group was founded in 2005 by US philanthropists Suzanne and Bob Wright, the grandparents of a child with autism.

Autism, a neuropsychiatric disorder that impairs a child’s ability to communicate and interact with others, affects tens of millions around the world. The disorder appears to have been rising massively in developed countries for the past two decades.

Born in Tokyo into a wealthy banking family, Ono was raised and educated in Japan and the United States.