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

Translator: Matej Gera Reviewer: Lucia Daubnerova

"Look at me!"

„Pozri sa na mňa.“

That phrase turned me into an eye-contact coach.

Táto veta zo mňa urobila trénerku očného kontaktu.

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

Som matkou Ivana, má 15 rokov.

Ivan has autism,

Ivan je autista,

he doesn't speak,

nerozpráva

and he communicates through an iPad,

a komunikuje sa prostredníctvom iPadu,

where his whole universe of words exists in images.

v ktorom má celý svoj vesmír slov v podobe obrázkov.

He was diagnosed when he was two and a half.

Autizmus mu bol diagnostikovaný, keď mal dva a pol roka.

I still remember that day painfully.

Stále si na ten deň bolestne spomínam.

My husband and I felt really lost;

Môj muž a ja sme sa cítili naozaj stratene,

we didn't know where to begin.

nevedeli sme, kde začať.

There was no internet,

Nebol žiaden internet ako dnes,

you couldn't Google information,

nedalo sa „googliť“ informácie,

so we made those first steps

takže sme prvé kroky robili čisto intuitívne.

out of sheer intuition.

Ivan would not maintain eye contact,

Ivan neudržiaval očný kontakt,

he had lost the words that he did know,

prestal používať slová, ktoré už vedel,

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

a nereagoval na meno ani žiadne prosby,

as if words were noise.

akoby slová boli len šum.

The only way I could know

Jediný spôsob, ako zistiť,

what was going on with him,

čo sa s ním dialo,

what he felt,

čo cítil,

was looking him in the eye.

bolo pozrieť sa mu do očí.

But that bridge was broken.

Toto spojenie sa ale pretrhlo.

How could I teach him about life?

Ako som ho mohla naučiť žiť?

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

Keď som spravila niečo, čo sa mu páčilo, pozrel sa na mňa

and we were connected.

a boli sme prepojení.

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

Tak som si zaumienila opakovať po ňom,

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

aby sme mali stále viac a viac očného kontaktu.

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

Trávili sme hodiny a hodiny hraním sa

na naháňačku s jeho staršou sestrou, Alexiou,

and when we said: "I caught you!"

a keď sme povedali: „Mám ťa!“

he would look around for us,

porozhliadal sa po nás

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

a v tom momente som cítila, že je nažive.

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

Okrem toho držíme rekord v počte hodín strávených v bazéne.

Ivan always had a passion for water.

Voda bola vždy Ivanovou veľkou vášňou.

I remember when he was two and a half,

Pamätám sa, keď mal dva a pol roka,

on a rainy winter day,

v jeden veľmi upršaný zimný deň

I was taking him to an indoor pool,

som ho vzala do krytého bazéna,

because even on rainy days we'd go swimming.

pretože aj počas daždivých dní sme chodievali plávať.

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

Boli sme na diaľnici a zle som odbočila.

He burst into tears and cried inconsolably, nonstop,

Začal neutíšiteľne plakať a neprestal,

until I turned back.

až kým som sa neotočila.

Only then did he calm down.

Až potom sa upokojil.

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

Ako je možné, že dva a pol ročný

didn't respond to his own name,

nereagoval na vlastné meno,

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

a predsa uprostred dažďa a hmly, kde ja som nič nevidela,

he knew the exact route?

poznal presne cestu?

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

Vtedy som si uvedomila, že Ivan má výnimočnú vizuálnu pamäť

and that that would be my way in.

a že tá bude moja cesta k nemu.

So I started taking pictures of everything,

Tak som začala všetko fotiť

and teaching him what life was like,

a učila ho, aký je život,

showing it to him, picture by picture.

ukazovala som mu ho fotku za fotkou.

Even now, it's the way Ivan communicates

Dodnes Ivan vyjadruje týmto spôsobom,

what he wants,

čo chce,

what he needs

čo potrebuje

and also what he feels.

a tiež čo cíti.

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

Ale nebol to len Ivanov očný kontakt, na ktorom záležalo.

Everyone else's did, too.

Aj očný kontakt ostatných bol dôležitý.

How could I make people see not only his autism,

Ako som mohla ľudí priviesť k tomu, aby nevideli len jeho autizmus,

but see him the person

ale aby ho videli ako človeka

and everything he can give;

so všetkým, čo dokáže dávať,

everything he can do;

všetkým, čo dokáže urobiť,

the things he likes and doesn't like,

vecami, ktoré má a nemá rád,

just like any one of us?

tak ako my ostatní?

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

Ale pre to všetko som aj ja musela dať kúsok zo seba.

I had to have the strength to let him go,

Musela som nájsť silu nechať ho ísť,

which was extremely difficult.

čo bolo strašne ťažké.

Ivan was 11 years old,

Ivan mal 11 rokov

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

a chodieval sa liečiť do inej mestskej časti, neďaleko domu.

One afternoon, while I was waiting for him,

Jedno poobedie, kým som na neho čakala,

I went into a greengrocer,

som vošla do zelovocu,

a typical neighborhood store with a little bit of everything.

typického miestneho zelovocu s troškou tovaru každého druhu.

While doing the shopping,

Kým som nakupovala,

I started talking to Jose, the owner.

prihovorila som sa Josému, majiteľovi.

I told him about Ivan,

Porozprávala som mu o Ivanovi,

that he had autism,

že je autista

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

a že by som chcela, aby sa naučil ísť sám po ulici bez toho,

without anyone holding his hand.

aby ho niekto viedol za ruku.

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

Tak som sa rozhodla opýtať Josého, či by každý štvrtok okolo 14-tej

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

nemohol Ivan prísť a pomôcť mu usporiadať fľaše s vodou na regáloch,

because he loved to organize things.

pretože zbožňuje usporadúvať veci.

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

Ako odmenu si mohol kúpiť čokoládové sušienky,

which were his favorite.

ktoré sú jeho obľúbené.

He said "yes" right away.

Bez zaváhania mi povedal „áno“.

So that's how it went for a year:

A takto to šlo rok:

Ivan would go to Jose's greengrocer,

Ivan chodieval do Josého zelovocu,

help him arrange the shelves of water bottles

pomáhal mu usporadúvať fľaše v regáloch

with the labels perfectly lined up on the same side,

do radu s perfektne zarovnanými etiketami,

and he would leave happy with his chocolate cookies.

a vždy spokojne odišiel s čokoládovými sušienkami.

Jose is not an expert in autism.

José nie je odborník na autizmus.

There is no need to be an expert

Nie je potrebné byť odborník na nič

nor do anything heroic to include someone.

alebo urobiť hrdinský čin, aby sme niekoho zapojili.

We just need to be there --

Musíme tam len byť.

(Applause)

(potlesk)

(Applause ends)

Really, no heroic deed --

Naozaj, žiadny hrdinský čin.

we simply need to be close.

Musíme len byť nablízku.

And if we are afraid of something

A keď sa niečoho bojíme

or we don't understand something,

alebo niečomu nerozumieme,

we need to ask.

musíme sa opýtať.

Let's be curious

Buďme zvedaví,

but never indifferent.

ale nikdy nie ľahostajní.

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

Majme odvahu pozrieť sa jeden druhému do očí,

because by looking,

pretože pohľadom

we can open a whole world to someone else.

môžeme pre druhého otvoriť celý svet.

(Applause)

(potlesk)

(Cheers)

(výskot)