Carina Morillo: To understand autism, don't look away
Carina Morillo: Pour comprendre l'autisme, ne baisse pas les yeux
Carina Morillo is an advocate for the social inclusion of people with autism. Full bio
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into an eye-contact coach.
dresseuse de regards.
exists in images.
de mots en images.
quand il avait deux ans et demi.
when he was two and a half.
avec beaucoup de chagrin.
comme de nos jours.
chercher d'information sur Google.
qu'il énonçait jadis,
or to anything we asked him,
qu'on lui demandait ;
droit dans les yeux.
qui lui plaisaient,
he would look at me,
à lui plaire sur ce genre de choses,
to working with him on those things,
plus de complicité, plus de regards.
eye-contact moments.
à jouer à chat perché
with his older sister, Alexia,
« Je vais t'attraper »,
qu'il était vraiment vivant.
I could feel he was alive.
d'heures à la piscine.
in a swimming pool.
une forte attirance pour l'eau.
quand il avait deux ans et demi,
à une piscine couverte
we'd go swimming.
ne nous empêchaient pas d'y aller.
and I took the wrong exit.
inconsolably, nonstop,
toutes les larmes de son corps,
arrivés, il s'est arrêté.
that a two and a half year old
il ne réponde pas à son prénom,
where I couldn't see anything,
la route parfaitement ?
had an exceptional visual memory,
dont Ivan jouissait
que j'allais me rapprocher de lui.
à tout prendre en photo
pictures of everything,
en lui montrant
qu'Ivan exprime ce qu'il veut,
Ivan's eye contact that mattered.
uniquement dans le regard d'Ivan.
dans les regards des autres.
not only his autism,
son trouble autistique
qu'il n'aime pas,
to give of myself.
moi-même faire des efforts.
in a neighborhood near our house.
mon temps en l'attendant,
while I was waiting for him,
dans l'épicerie typique du quartier
with a little bit of everything.
le patron.
à marcher seul dans la rue,
to walk down the street by himself,
if Thursdays around 2pm,
à deux heures de l'après-midi,
the water bottles on the shelves,
de bouteilles d'eau
some chocolate cookies,
des biscuits au chocolat,
of water bottles
avec l'étiquette bien visible
lined up on the same side,
with his chocolate cookies.
comprendre son prochain.
rester proches.
to look each other in the eye,
de nous regarder dans les yeux,
à quelqu'un d'autre.
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