1. Presentation

On Sunday, 7 April 2024, we participated in the official autism awareness day in Rio de Janeiro.
On that occasion, We had the opportunity to have at least two remarkable encounters, that should (Hope) result in collaborations.

1.1. General video of the event (16'33”)

2. Xawdrê and Councilwoman Tânia Bastos

2.1. Video (6'17”) (Included in the 'General Video'’ Up)

2.2. Xawdrê

The first memorable encounter was with a young autistic man dressed as a “superhero”. It's called Xawdrê (That's the nickname he chose). He is an autistic protagonist who explains important things to autistic people and parents, that seem to us to be perfectly pertinent and in line with what we are saying.

Although obviously he's not really a “superhero” in the cinematic sense of the word, And since these characters are fictional (they don't fly etc.), We find your attitude truly “Heroic” because he is evidently intrepid, Not afraid of the judgment of others and not afraid to try new things and be creative, which corresponds precisely to the essential principles we are trying to explain.

Indeed, “To try” and “experiment” are really indispensable, Contrary to the tendency towards overprotection unfortunately imposed all too often on autistic people.

We got in touch with Xawdrê and everything is going well.

2.2.1. Transcript of Xawdrê's speech

(Unfortunately, The initial part is missing.)

“(…….) that nWe are limited, Except that's not true. The place of the autistic is everywhere. And an autistic person can be anything they want to be.
Including a superhero. Because we were all born to be protagonists. And that's what we're doing here.

A lot of people said I had everything to go wrong. That I didn't do the things I wanted to. But today, I am the protagonist.
And I'm a superhero. And no one can take it away from me. Diagnosis, It's not destiny.“

2.3. Councilwoman Tânia Bastos

The second particularly striking person we encountered was the Councilwoman Tânia Bastos, who is very engaged with autism in Rio de Janeiro. She has made many municipal laws for autistic people and is the “Godmother of Autistic People” in Rio.

We were introduced to her, We talked for a while and she found our explanations and the concept of the Autistan Diplomatic Organization very interesting.
She repeated to us that she would like to visit Our Embassy (in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro), which is totally pertinent, since this Embassy was designed for exactly that. She left us her cell phone number.

In the video below, You can listen to her speech, that we found very powerful.

2.3.1. Transcript of Councilwoman Tânia Bastos' speech

“Look, We need to talk about the future, But I need to talk about our past first. Our Past, that there is 11 Years, We started this journey with approximately 100 people, With some gas balloons, to get attention, Luciano, of the entire population, for the sake of this cause that is so noble. For the sake of this cause that, often, We've had a lot of fights, Not only with the executive, but also with society itself, that totally discriminated against people with spectrum disorder.

I cannot speak of the future without first speaking of our past, when we knocked on the secretaries' doors to ask for help. And many of them opened the doors of their offices to talk about the disorder. Including, the Secretary, which is still the Daniel Soranz, he was the first Secretary to help us when he made his entire team available to make the Our booklet that talks about the disorder in a playful way and for this booklet to be delivered to all units of the health network.

Daniel Soranz was the first partner of the executive to open these doors for us. And it is essential that we emphasize these people who started with us when no one yet knew what spectrum disorder was.

They've grown up, Luciana… Luciano, They've grown up. Here, Look. They've grown up.

And we know how hard we still fight for their rights. Just now, Together with the Denise Aragão, She asked me to make an autism hotline law. And we've already filed it in the House and this bill is already going through the committees and we're going to vote on it in the next few weeks.

This autism hotline has to exist. It has to exist in our city. Because there are many laws that are not complied with by people with various rights and they do absolutely nothing.

What's up, When I speak them, I speak both private and public power. I can't just point the finger at the government, but private power. Because many families, when they arrive at a private school and tell them that their child has the disorder, The doors close.

They say there's no vacancy. So, This is absurd. And in the 21st century, We are here still fighting for our rights.

So, To speak of the future now is to say that all laws must be complied with, That we deserve respect and that there's no one in this world who's going to shut our mouths. 'Cause we're here fighting for our rights.

Equal rights, How's it here.

We're all the same. So, therefore, Our rights need to be equal. For everyone.

So, Luciano, Thank you very much. And I hope that the City Council and I am sure will do the greetings. Here by my side is my dear friend, Luciana Novaes, Councilwoman, Together with me, who fights for the cause of people with disabilities.

What's up, Luciana, There's nothing here to stop us. You're the one who's there, always, in all sessions, Talking about, Speaking along with me. That's key.

It's togetherness. We are not adversaries at any time. We have to be united for the sake of the cause.

When we see some walks, because this was the first one that happened in Rio de Janeiro. And when we see people wanting to share, It's too bad, 'Cause we need to show strength. And it doesn't have A, it doesn't have B and it doesn't have C.

There's no team that people need to understand that. It's not a team, It's not a football game where one loses and the other wins. Everybody's got to win.

We need to be united to get this cause recognized, not only in Rio de Janeiro, but all over the world. I'll be of the day 20 the 27 in Argentina, Lecturing on the Cause of Autism. Let's take the cause to other countries and talk about our laws, how much we are here ahead of many countries.

That's the message. We do not want to measure forces here. We just want to join forces.

That's our purpose. Thanks, Luciano.”

2.4. Beginning of an expected realization of our relations

2.4.1. Document provided by Councilwoman Tânia Bastos (with your direct phone number)

3. Other people

Surely there were many other people “important to the cause”, but we didn't have the opportunity to meet them, except the Ombudsman of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the State of Rio de Janeiro (MPRJ) which we found very friendly and informative (but we didn't take any photos or videos).
(Here you are an article made by this Public Prosecutor's Office, who rightly mentions Xawdrê.)

4. Thanks

We would like to thank the Mrs. Amelia Rosauro, Accessibility Coordinator at UFRJ, for encouraging us to participate in this Autism Day walk event and for your efforts to spread the word about our initiative (Our Organization).

Naturally, We would also like to thank the association Blue World, who organizes this walk every year.

Índice