Carina Morillo: To understand autism, don't look away (with English subtitles) | TED

Translator: Alex Pérez Reviewer: Jone Aliri Lazcano

"Look at me!"

Begira nazazu!

That phrase turned me into an eye-contact coach.

Hitz honekin bihurtu nintzen begiraden entrenatzaile.

I'm the mother of Ivan; he's 15 years old.

Ivan-en ama naiz, 15 urte dituena.

Ivan has autism,

Ivan-ek autismoa du, ez du hitzik egiten

he doesn't speak,

and he communicates through an iPad,

eta iPad baten bitartez komunikatzen da,

where his whole universe of words exists in images.

non bere hitzen unibertsoa irudietan dagoen.

He was diagnosed when he was two and a half.

Diagnosia bi urte eta erdi zituenean jaso genuen,

I still remember that day painfully.

eta gaur egun oraindik, min handiz gogoratzen dut momentu hura.

My husband and I felt really lost;

Senarrak eta biok oso galduta ikusten genuen gure burua.

we didn't know where to begin.

Ez genekien nondik hasi.

There was no internet,

Ez zegoen Internetik gaur egun bezala,

you couldn't Google information,

ezin zen Google-en informaziorik bilatu,

so we made those first steps

eta beraz lehen urrats haiek,

out of sheer intuition.

intuizio hutsa izan ziren.

Ivan would not maintain eye contact,

Ivan-ek ez zuen begirada eusten,

he had lost the words that he did know,

esan ohi zituen hitzak galdu zituen,

and he didn't respond to his name or to anything we asked him,

ez zion bere izenari erantzuten

ezta eska geniezaiokeen edozerri ere,

as if words were noise.

hitzak zaratak izango balira bezala zen.

The only way I could know

Nik neukan modu bakarra

zer gertatzen zitzaion jakiteko,

what was going on with him,

what he felt,

sentitzen zuena,

was looking him in the eye.

begietara begiratzea zen.

But that bridge was broken.

Baina zubi hori puskatua zegoen.

How could I teach him about life?

Nola erakutsi bizitza Ivan-i?

When I did things he liked, he would look at me,

Gustuko zituen gauzak egiten nituenean,

orduan bai, begiratzen zidan;

and we were connected.

eta elkarrekin geunden.

So I dedicated myself to working with him on those things,

Hortaz, horretan jarraitu nuen,

so we would have more and more eye-contact moments.

gero eta begirada une gehiago egon zitezen.

We would spend hours and hours playing tag with his older sister, Alexia,

Orduak ematen genituen "orbanera jolasten",

bere arreba nagusiarekin, Alexia,

and when we said: "I caught you!"

eta "Ai! Arrapatu zaitut!" txanda horietan

he would look around for us,

begiradarekin bilatzen zigun,

and at that moment, I could feel he was alive.

eta nik, une horretan, bizirik zegoela sentitzen nuen.

We also hold a record for hours spent in a swimming pool.

Baita ere, igerilekuan emandako orduen errekorra daukagu.

Ivanek beti izan zuen urarekiko izugarrizko grina.

Ivan always had a passion for water.

I remember when he was two and a half,

Gogoratzen naiz bi urte eta erdi zituela,

on a rainy winter day,

eta neguko egun euritsu batean,

I was taking him to an indoor pool,

igerileku estali batera neraman,

because even on rainy days we'd go swimming.

egun horietan ere ez bait genion joateari uzten.

We were on the highway, and I took the wrong exit.

Autobidean zehar gindoazen,

eta irteeraz nahastu nintzen.

Eta bertan negarrez hasi zen, atsekabe handiz, geratu gabe

He burst into tears and cried inconsolably, nonstop,

until I turned back.

bide egokia berrartu nuen arte

Only then did he calm down.

eta orduan, baretu zen.

How was it possible that a two and a half year old

Nola liteke posible,

bi urte eta erdirekin ez erantzutea bere izenari,

didn't respond to his own name,

yet in the middle of the rain and fog, where I couldn't see anything,

baina euri eta laino hartan, ni ezer ikusteko gai ez nintzen hartan,

he knew the exact route?

bera bidea ezagutzeko gai izatea?

That's when I realized that Ivan had an exceptional visual memory,

Orduan konturatu nintzen Ivan-ek izugarrizko ikus-oroimena zuela,

and that that would be my way in.

eta hori izango zela nire sarrera.

So I started taking pictures of everything,

Beraz guztiari argazkiak ateratzen hasi nintzen,

and teaching him what life was like,

eta horrela bizitza erakusten,

showing it to him, picture by picture.

argazkiak erakutsiz, bata bestaren ondoren.

Even now, it's the way Ivan communicates

Eta egun oraindik, modu honen bitartez azaltzen digu Ivan-ek

what he wants,

nahi duena, behar duena,

what he needs

and also what he feels.

eta, baita sentitzen duena ere.

But it wasn't just Ivan's eye contact that mattered.

Baina ez zegoen solik Ivan-en begiradan.

Everyone else's did, too.

Beste guztien begiradan ere bazegoen.

How could I make people see not only his autism,

Nola lortu bere autismoari soilik ez begiratzea,

but see him the person

baizik eta berari ere begiratzea,

and everything he can give;

eman dezakeen guztiarekin?

everything he can do;

Egin dezakeen guztiarekin?

the things he likes and doesn't like,

Gustuko dituen gauzekin, gustuko ez dituenekin,

just like any one of us?

gutako edonorri bezala.

But for that, I also had to give of myself.

Baina horretarako, nik ere nire aldetik jarri behar nuen.

I had to have the strength to let him go,

Bera askatzera animatu behar nintzen.

which was extremely difficult.

Eta izugarri kostatzen zitzaidan.

Ivan was 11 years old,

Ivan-ek 11 urte zituen,

and he went for treatment in a neighborhood near our house.

eta tratamendua etxetik oso gertu egiten zuen, beste auzo batean.

One afternoon, while I was waiting for him,

Eta arratsalde batean, denbora pasa nengoen, itxaroten nuen bitartean,

I went into a greengrocer,

barazki-dendan sartu nintzen

a typical neighborhood store with a little bit of everything.

auzoetako ohiko barazki dendan, non denetarik duten.

While doing the shopping,

Erosten nengoen bitartean,

I started talking to Jose, the owner.

Jose, jabearekin hizketan hasi nintzen.

I told him about Ivan,

Ivan-ek autismoa zuela esan nion,

that he had autism,

and that I wanted him to learn to walk down the street by himself,

eta kalean zehar bakarrik ibiltzen ikas zezala nahi nuela,

without anyone holding his hand.

inork eskutik heldu gabe.

So I decided to ask Jose if Thursdays around 2pm,

Eta hau galdetzera adoretu nintzen,

ea ostegunetan, arratsaldeko ordubietan,

Ivan could come and help him arrange the water bottles on the shelves,

Ivan joan ote zitekeen ur botil apalak txukuntzera,

gauzak antolatzea gustuko zuelako,

because he loved to organize things.

And as a reward, he could buy some chocolate cookies,

eta saritzat, txokolatezko gailetatxo batzuk erostea,

which were his favorite.

bere gailetatxo gustukoenak.

He said "yes" right away.

Segituan baietz esan zidan.

So that's how it went for a year:

Eta horrela urte batean zehar,

Ivan would go to Jose's greengrocer,

Ivan, Jose-ren dendara joaten zen,

help him arrange the shelves of water bottles

ur botilen apalak antolatzen laguntzen zion,

etiketak guztiz lerrokatuta gelditzen zirelarik

with the labels perfectly lined up on the same side,

milimetrikoki alde berdinerantz.

and he would leave happy with his chocolate cookies.

Eta pozik joaten zen

bere txokolatezko gailetatxoekin.

Jose is not an expert in autism.

Jose ez da autismoan aditua.

There is no need to be an expert

Ez da beharrezkoa ezertan aditua izatea,

nor do anything heroic to include someone.

ezta izugarrizko ekintzak egitea beste norbait sartzeko.

We just need to be there --

Soilik, bertan egon behar gara--

(Txaloak)

(Applause)

(Applause ends)

Really, no heroic deed --

Horrela da, ez da izugarrizko ekintzarik.

we simply need to be close.

Soilik gertu egon behar gara.

And if we are afraid of something

Eta zerbaitek beldurtzen bagaitu,

or we don't understand something,

edo ez badugu ulertzen, galdetu dezagun;

we need to ask.

jakingura izan dezagun,

Let's be curious

but never indifferent.

baina ez gaitezen axolagabeak izan.

Let's have the courage to look each other in the eye,

Begietara begiratzeko adorea izan dezagun,

because by looking,

zeren eta gure begiradarekin,

we can open a whole world to someone else.

beste mundu bat ireki diezaiokegulako beste norbaiti.

(Applause)

(Txaloak)

(Cheers)

(Txaloak)