Carina Morillo: To understand autism, don't look away
Carina Morillo: Wenn Sie Autismus verstehen wollen, schau nicht weg
Carina Morillo is an advocate for the social inclusion of people with autism. Full bio
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into an eye-contact coach.
einen "Augenkontakt-Trainer".
exists in images.
in Form von Bildern abgelegt ist.
when he was two and a half.
als er zweieinhalb war.
sehr schmerzlich an diesen Tag.
uns sehr verloren;
wo wir anfangen sollten.
nach Informationen googeln.
ersten Schritte rein intuitiv.
or to anything we asked him,
noch auf alles, was wir ihn fragten.
he would look at me,
schaute er mich an.
to working with him on those things,
eye-contact moments.
mit Augenkontakt zu haben.
with his older sister, Alexia,
mit Alexia, seiner älteren Schwester.
"Ich habe dich gefangen!",
I could feel he was alive.
fühlte ich das Leben in ihm.
in a swimming pool.
für Schwimmbadaufenthalte.
eine Leidenschaft für Wasser.
we'd go swimming.
an regnerischen Tagen schwimmen.
and I took the wrong exit.
nahm ich die falsche Abfahrt.
inconsolably, nonstop,
weinte ununterbrochen und war untröstlich,
that a two and a half year old
dass ein Zweieinhalbjähriger,
where I couldn't see anything,
wo ich nichts sehen konnte,
had an exceptional visual memory,
außergewöhnliches visuelles Gedächtnis.
um mit ihm in Kontakt zu kommen.
pictures of everything,
Ivan's eye contact that mattered.
Ivans Blickkontakt war wichtig.
not only his autism,
nicht nur seinen Autismus zu sehen,
to give of myself.
ihn loszulassen.
in a neighborhood near our house.
zu einem Haus ganz in der Nähe.
while I was waiting for him,
während ich auf ihn wartete,
with a little bit of everything.
mit ein bisschen von allem.
sprach ich mit Jose, dem Besitzer.
to walk down the street by himself,
allein durch die Straßen zu gehen,
if Thursdays around 2pm,
Ivan donnerstags um 14 Uhr
the water bottles on the shelves,
Wasserflaschen in den Regalen zu ordnen.
some chocolate cookies,
Schokokekse kaufen,
of water bottles
den Wasserflaschen zu ordnen,
lined up on the same side,
perfekt gleich ausgerichtet waren,
with his chocolate cookies.
mit seinen Schokokekse.
um jemanden nicht auszuschließen.
to look each other in the eye,
einander in die Augen zu sehen.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Carina Morillo - Autism advocateCarina Morillo is an advocate for the social inclusion of people with autism.
Why you should listen
Carina Morillo is a founding member and president of Fundación Brincar, a non-profit organization in Argentina that has worked since 2010 for a better quality of life of people with autism and their families.
Morillo started Fundación Brincar -- inspired by her son Ivan, who is currently 16 years old and has autism -- because she strongly believes that although life with autism can be challenging, her family and others like it have the right to be happy. In spite of its high prevalence, most people still don't know what autism is about or how to help someone with autism. The foundation offers support services and training to families and professionals, community awareness programs and art and skills training for children, youth and adults on the autism spectrum. Brincar has trained more than 15,000 professionals and families, and it currently offers support services to more than 3,000 families throughout Argentina. The foundation's free virtual library monthly reaches 400,000 people per month throughout Latin America and Spain. Brincar is also founding member of the Argentina Network of Autism, and has become one of the leading autism references for both families, health professionals and teachers in Argentina and Latin America.
Morillo is actively working on the creation of an adult life platform for living with autism. Like many parents, her main concern is who will take care of her son during his adult life. Around one-third of people with autism remain nonverbal, and one-third have an intellectual disability, requiring 24/7 support throughout their life. Existing facilities and services in Argentina and Latin America are limited to school age, with no residence or occupation solutions for anyone older than 18.
Morillo has been awarded the 2016 US Ambassador in Argentina Entrepreneur Prize and the 2014 Argentine Solidarity Prize. In April 2017, Fundación Brincar was declared of Social Interest by the Congress of the City of Buenos Aires for its open community services. Morillo holds a BS in Business Administration degree of Babson College.
Carina Morillo | Speaker | TED.com