Being the parent to an autistic child is incredibly difficult, as this disorder comes with many unique challenges for the sufferer and their family alike. This is why Nancy Nemhauser and Lubomir Jastrzebski of Mount Dora, Florida have come up with a unique way to work with their autistic son, but their neighbors are furious about it.

Nancy and Lubomir have painted their home to resemble Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” much to the dismay of their neighbors. The reason they did this is because they wanted to guide their autistic son home.

“We had not originally intended to paint the house like this,” Nancy explained.

The couple had not originally intended to paint their house this way. They started to redo the outside of their home when they realized it needed a new paint job, and it was only when they got to work that they realized they had the opportunity to use their home to help their son.

They ended up painting their house in a way that makes it stand out from other homes so that their son will always be able to recognize it.

The family got permission from the city and hired an artist who has his work on display in South America. He ended up doing an amazing job on the home!

“God forbid he were to be in a situation where he did not have the ability to articulate his address, we’re hoping that he would have the ability to at least say that he belongs at the Van Gogh house,” Nancy said, adding that she knew the paint job would be “loud enough” that everyone in town would know which house he was talking about.

Neighbors complained to the city about the paint job, and though the family had gotten permission from city officials, Mount Dora issued them a citation on a technicality. The city claimed that the paint job was graffiti and said that unless they painted the same on the wall, it had to go. The family responded by painting the wall in the same way, but this only made their neighbors angrier.

Mount Dora officials fined the family $10,600, and they responded by filing a lawsuit claiming that their first amendment rights were violated. Officials claim that they wanted to “preserve the residential character of our neighborhoods.”

The family then got a petition full of signatures in support of them, and the city finally gave up. Officials even agreed to pay the family’s legal fees, which amounted to $15,000.

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