Article of “Revista Autismo” (Autism Magazine) (Brazil)
https://www.revistaautismo.com.br/geral/dia-do-autistao-2019-trara-autistas-de-todo-o-brasil-ao-rio/
Autistan Day 2019 will bring autistic people from all over Brazil to Rio
International organization formed by autistic hosts event in Rio de Janeiro
The Autistan Diplomatic Organization, of international amplitude and formed exclusively by autistics, will promote on March 31, 2019 the event of the Day of the Autistan, in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
The event has an intention to gather autistics from different locations in Brazil for a kind of roundtable. The venue of the event is the Embassy of Autistan, a space in Copacabana, and will be broadcast online on YouTube. In addition, participants will answer questions from the public.
According to the creator of the French Eric Lucas, the event fulfils a proposal from the Autistan Diplomatic Organization, which is the leading role of autistic people. “Autistic people have the right to participate in public debates and to have their specificities heard in the drafting of policies,” he said.
In addition to the online exhibition, Rio’s Autistão Day event will also be broadcast in real-time in Belgium during a similar concept event, Journée de l’Autistan. In this exchange, Brazilian autistic people will answer questions from the Belgian public.
To perform the event, the organization is receiving diagnosed autistic persons from different locations in Brazil and who want to talk about themselves voluntarily. The lodging at the embassy is guaranteed for a limited number of participants.
About Autistão
According to Eric, the idea around Autistan took place in an idea of a virtual country exclusively formed by autistic people. “Autistan is the country of the autistic in the metaphorical sense. This word was created by our colleague, Josef Schovanec, a very famous autistic in France”, he said.
Present in Brazil and with ambassadors in different places of the world, the Autistan Diplomatic Organization has the purpose of “explaining and supporting the cause of the autistic people of the world, and autism in general”. This includes efforts to support groups formed by national autistic people for self-determination, protagonism and representation, sometimes debated only between medical professionals and parents.
The Facebook page of the Embassy of Autistan is: facebook.com/Autistan.rio